In Madame Plaza, choreographer Bouchra Ouizguen shared the stage with Aïta singers, who have been working in the oldest cabarets of Marrakech, Morocco. As traditional masters often compared to Japanese geisha, these vocalists have translated the pleasures and pains of life into music and poetry. Ouizguen pays homage to these artists while confronting the ambivalent gaze towards them, where respect for virtuosos coexists with disdain for their erotic overtone.
Ouizguen’s newest creation Elephant is an extension of the choreographer’s ongoing contemplation, in which she constructs the stage once more with Aïta singers. Like the elephant, which could be mostly extinct by the end of the next decade, the collective body brought forth by the movements of four dancers on stage oscillates between strength and fragility, creating something that is continuously on the verge of disappearing. Taking the artistic form transmitted from generation to generation in the Moroccan region, Ouizguen constructs a fascinating choreography in the form of a concert, where the movements coexist with voices and drums. Ultimately, Elephant shares with us the question of how to keep hope in the face of the disappearance of things.

Artistic direction: Bouchra Ouizguen
Dancers and singers: Milouda El Maataoui, Bouchra Ouizguen, Halima Sahmoud, Joséphine Tilloy
Light scenography: Sylvie Mélis
Sound management: Chloé Barbe
Production, Administration: Mylène Gaillon

Production: Compagnie O
Coproduction: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Festival Montpellier Danse, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Les Spectacles vivants - Centre Pompidou, Wiener Festwochen, AFAC (Arab Fund for Art and Culture), HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), ERT Emilia Romagna Teatro (Italy), Kampnagel, Service de Coopération et d’Action Culturelle de l’Ambassade de France au Maroc.
Funded by Cultural Foundation – Abu Dhabi

Co-presented by Ob/Scene Festival, SFAC theater QUAD