June 12th

NOASS

16:00 | Free stage. Latvian dance artists

19:00 | Tchina Nddjida | “Cross” | Cameroon

20:00 SHORT CUT | several Latvian Dance artists & Ksenia Simanova | “Is the Time Still Here?” | Latvia

21.00 | Music and Dance JAM with bass Stanislav Judin & Bm/C

Free stage. Latvian dance artists

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TCHINA | choreographer – dancer – performer | artistic director of the Company Tchina | Cameroon

TCHINA was born in the 1990's in the capital of Cameroon, to a father and a mother from the far north, precisely in Maroua. He integrates very quickly for his initiation several hip-hop dance dancers and discover the immensity of creation using many hip hop techniques: popping, break dance, krump, new style… He meets contemporary dance which really touches him enormously. He follows many contemporary dance workshops given by choreographer as André Takoussa, Moada Yanaka and many others who initiate him into this rite of body and gesture. This will be followed by dance competitions, festivals and cultural events and solicitations abroad. He enrolled in the Performing and Film arts department of the University of Yaoundé 1 where he studies theatre, cinema, and performance. THE PERFORMANCE! This strange art which seduces him immediately, and with a lot of determination, he trained under Christian Etongo who gave him basics and techniques of creating this new form of expression.
Today he has more than five choreographed shows: «Au delà de l'imagination» («Beyond the imagination »), «Le Temps» («Time), «Ex-piation», « Your burden » and several participations in internationals festivals, not to mention the following awards: The 2017 Goethe Discovery Award, KEEP ON BREAKING, semi-finalist of «Africa has an incredible talent».

In July 2021 he graduated from L'Ecole des Sables (The School of the Sands) in Senegal with a diploma in African, Traditional and Contemporary dance with the distinction. He now dreams of contributing to the construction of the network of choreographic art in Africa and the world.


Choreography and performer: Tchina Ndjidda
Music: Diaphane (Interstice) / Trifon Koutsourelis (In Peace) / trio Joubran (Masar)
Editing Sound: Vincent Di Salvatore
External advicer: Ruzibiza Wesley
Administration: Grimo Art
Coproduction: Compagnie DK-BEL.

With the support of: French Institute of Cameroun, École des Sables
Laboratoire des théâtres de Yaoundé

Photo credits: Florent Fournier, Borut Bučinel
Thanks to Fanny Abega and the City of Villiers le Bel

CROSS (2021)

is a dance performance that tells the story of the life of a young dancer who went on a clandestine adventure to pursue his career in Europe. After many frustrations, in his own country and in his family circle, he returns after many years of absence and a lot of failed attempts. Touched by an incomparable shame, he speaks of his journey towards utopia.

This performance is composed of three parts : the dancer follows a melancholic and tragic plot in search of pride and love, where he encounters imbalances, frustrations, anger, distress, and sadness at the loss of friends of the past. This memory oscillates between wind and sea, nostalgia and rage, power, and powerlessness. This heavy past transforms into a force which gives him an immeasurable hope to face his future and his dream.

In its quest for integrity, CROSS is a strong solo which questions the public with the authenticity of the two texts written by the author and by his dance of excellence: a dance coming from contemporary hip hop, mixing jerky and fluid energy, where we feel his expertise the tribal legacy of the native continent. Combining ritual, therapeutic and
traditional dances of North Cameroon (Tchawal and Badag), which consist of guides the dead by a dance and a trance which celebrates life, hope and the strength of masculinity.


NOTE OF INTENTION :
“CROSS performance is a plea for stowaways, who abandon their families, in search of an idyllic life elsewhere. I ask, through dance, the questions of the migratory flow of young Africans towards Europe and other continents. 70% of them want to leave their country for several reasons (the unemployment, the poverty, the frustrations …). Far from
supporting these reasons, I interrogate with my solo not only the collective unconsciousness, but also the mental and emotional behaviors that engender these ideas of leaving. I'm one of those humans in perpetual search for peace and freedom. As an activist, I aim to describe a situation well-known by politicians but ignored; the problem of clandestine immigration has deeper roots such as colonization, education, and social image.

Having personally been through this experience, in my danced narrative I describe the journey to uncertainty and a predicted abyss. Dance is therapy for me, it allows me to go beyond myself and overcome my frustrations and find balance. It has also given hope to those who had lost it, and it unifies, - it shows that even in those situations of «Partir à tout prix et à tous les prix» («leaving at any cost»), we're not really alone».
Tchina

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SHORT CUT | several Latvian Dance artists &

Ksenia Simanova | Latvia

Dancer and choreographer of contemporary dance.
In 2014 graduated from the  LKA Latvian College of Culture. In 2018 graduated from the Latvian Academy of Culture with a bachelor degree in dance arts. Also took a part in the exchange program at a educational institute “COLINE” – professional contemporary dance educational program , Istres (France).
Ksenija is actively working in her profession as a dancer and choreographer. Also she is a head of study specialization “Contemporary dance” at the LKA Latvian College of Culture and a teacher/choreographer at the contemporary dance studio “Buras”. Furthermore, Ksenija is a member of the troupe of the Swiss winter circus in Biel/Bienne.
Worked with: Olga Zitluhina (LV), Ramona Galkina (LV), Ilze Zirina (LV),  Cai Rang Ren Qing (CN),  Ady Elzam (IL), Josephine A. Garibaldi (US), Paul Zmolek (US), Michel Kelemenis (FRA), Benno Voorham (NDL/SWE), Agnese Vanaga (AR/LV) etc.

Choreographer | Ksenija Simanova

Dancers | Glorija Špisa & Normunds Purvinskis 


“Is the Time Still Here?” (2024)

Let's all disperse.
Only death unites us.
So we are not breaking up.
There is an inevitable, big meeting.
So, someone suddenly taps us on the shoulders in the dark..

J. Brodsky

Music and Dance JAM with a bass Stanislav Judin & Bm/C

Come and dance!


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