Innovative Curatorial Projects – Paris / SingaporeHeddy Maalem
*Algeria. Lives and works in Toulouse, France.
Heddy Maalem was born in Batna, Algeria, in the heart of the Aurès region, of an Algerian father and a French mother. He was a prolific, trained boxer and also studied aikido, and when he discovered dance it was as if it had always been a part of him. With as sole guide his abiding faith in the power of the body, he began a lengthy period of research aimed at elaborating his very personal take on the nature of movement. In 1990 he founded his own company. His choreography, with its precise, sparse vocabulary, seeks clarity and legibility. Key works include: Black Spring, L’Ordre de la Bataille, Le Sacre du Printemps, le Principe de Solitude, Un Champ de Forces, Mais le Diable marche à nos côtés and Éloge du puissant royaume.
Une rose est une rose est une rose [with Benoît Dervaux] / Algeria-France / 2007 / 10’37 / 4:3
As we move in and out of urban spaces defined by powers that be, how do we find the place that is specifically ours? How do we stake our ground? How do we move beyond preconceptions of race and gender, status and origins? These questions are at the heart of choreographer Heddy Maalem’s work. In this piece, a solo for female dancer, a body does the asking, alternately questioning, asserting, appearing full‐screen and disappearing at the edges as if being slowly devoured by the impossibly white landscape against which she seeks to affirm her identity.