Eversince childhood, my imagination has been built around music. I always cherished family moments when we had fun together performing the songs we loved. We achieved this via a series of small, sophisticated gestures, amplified by the attention they received. Our bodies were blossoming, filling the silences with aplomb and audaciously anticipating the musical accents. In other words, we were trying to get into the “groove”.
The word groove is originally a slang term that originated in jazz music and more specifically in swing at the end of the 1930s. This is known as an embellishment phenomenon. The musicians of the time were looking for a form of rhythmic suppleness.

The choreography brings together images and intimate dances. Among them, I would mention the Afindrafindrao, a dance from the 19th century coming from the red island where I come from: Madagascar. I also sketch a few steps of Madison, the first choreography I learned, popularized in the 60s with Al Brown, an Afro-American singer.
In short, g r oo v e takes the form of a collage of references quoted and then transformed. The choreographic challenge is to assemble and articulate them skillfully, to the benefit of an energy that progresses throughout the piece.

Soa Ratsifandrihana is a French-Malagasy dancer and choreographer. After studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, Soa started out as a dancer in creations by James Thierrée and Salia Sanou. She then joined Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s company Rosas. Among many productions, she dances Fase (including the solo Violin Phase), which De Keersmaeker passed on for the first time to a new generation of dancers. Soa Ratsifandrihana’s name was highlighted for the quality of her interpretation. Alongside her work as a performer, she develops her own work. In 2016, she collaborated with the musicians Sylvain Darrifourcq and Ronan Courtyon to Tendimite. Recently, she choreographed Folia with Aure Wachter and the HowNow company, presented at the Cologne Philharmonic in August 2020.
At present, Soa is interested in movement, music and poetry. Through dance, she wants to achieve a synthesis between spontaneity and rigorous composition, against a background of history that resembles her.

choreography, interpretation: Soa Ratsifandrihana
music creation: Alban Murenzi and Sylvain Darrifourcq
light design: Marie-Christine Soma
costume design: Coco Petitpierre
dressmaking: Anne Tesson
light technician: Suzanna Bauer / Diane Guérin
sound technician: Guilhem Angot / Jean-Louis Waflart
archives and outside eye: Valérianne Poidevin
outside eye: Thi-Mai Nguyen
delegated production and distribution: AMA – Arts Management Agency – France Morin, Cécile Perrichon, Anna Six
co-production: Arts Management Agency, Charleroi danse, La Place de la Danse – CDCN Toulouse Occitanie, Mars – Mons arts de la scène, Workspacebrussels, Atelier 210, T2G – Théâtre de Gennevilliers, la Soufflerie – scène conventionnée de Rezé
with the support of Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles – Service de la Danse
support: CNDC – Angers, Pointculture, Iles asbl, GC De Kriekelaar, Fabbrica Europa / PARC Performing Arts Research Centre, Kaaitheater et le Centre national de la Danse

[photo: Lara Gasparotto]