Soa Ratsifandrihana - Fampitaha, fampita, fampitàna

After highly applauded performances in Brussels and Berlin, the up-and-coming choreographer Soa Ratsifandrihana is presenting her first group work at Kaserne! On stage, four bodies defy the violence that has shaped them and weave multi-layered narratives of diasporic life with ease and joy. Ratsifandrihana, guitarist Joël Rabesolo and performers Audrey Merilus and Stanley Ollivier, whose family roots lie in Madagascar, Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe, search for a common artistic expression that both unites and honors differences. Their genre-bending work reminds us that traditions can be passed on not only through words, but also through bodies and sounds. Inspired by a trip to Madagascar, they weave choreography, music, poetry and humour into a performance that makes the dynamics of creolization - the mixing and mutual influence of cultures - tangible.

Fampitaha, Fampita, Fampitàna (“comparison, passing on, competition”) is an attempt to re-establish a dialog between diasporic identities and their countries of origin. The performance tells of the violent fragmentation of these experiences and their powerful re-appropriation. From the idea of never having left their islands, the performers develop a parade against exile - a celebration of polyphonic identities.

«Soa Ratsifandrihana effortlessly succeeds in presenting the socio-political fact of the hybridization of culture in dance as an everyday, practical life process - with seriousness, but full of humour and lightness.» - Nachtkritik

Duration: ca. 90 Min.