ARCHIVES 2009 / Le Cri

The scream that Nacera Belaza and her sister emit is interior. At the centre of a bare stage, bathed in darkness, it is with their feet almost riveted to the floor that the two young women dance their freedom, Slowly, gently, their upper bodies begin to sway, their arms to sketch increasingly rhythmic arcs of circles, depicting the awakening of a body that has slumbered too long. Barely perceptible, their swaying is gradually amplified until it infuses them with life. We might think it could be an arid duet but it is nothing of the kind. While the air fills with the intoned psalms of Larbi Bestam and the splendid voices of Maria Callas and Amy Winehouse, the atmosphere verges on magic. Repetitive and hypnotic, Nacera and Dalila Belaza's dance takes us out of time, stuns us to better carry us away, to better lift us up. Minimalist but expansive, it touches ascesis as well as pleasure, spirituality as well as a discreet form of sensuality.