“At what point do we leave an ordinary movement to enter the magic of dance?” This question runs through Izeddiou’s current research into “danced gesture”, through Gnawa trance itself—nourished by cultural hybridisations, contemporary dance movements and the vocabulary of flamenco. His aim is to create a shared experience through repetition, insistence, pulsation, obsession, and rhythm pushed to the point of physical and mental exhaustion—and ultimately surrender to the cadence of songs, music and clapping.
The state of trance seeks a form of truth—“that of a being without artifice in the present moment”—already explored in his trilogy (Hmadcha, Hors du monde [first performed at the Festival de Marseille in 2023], and La Terre en transe), with a core group of exceptional performers. Building on his experience working with amateurs, notably in Danser ma ville, Izeddiou here creates a new variation on the same theme—more intimate, yet still collective—drawing on the diversity of bodies, stories and lived experiences to shape a narrative that speaks to our society.
