Combat des lianes
In the raw, ritualistic dance performance of Combat des lianes, bodies resist destruction. In an imaginary forest, struggle, solidarity and survival become physically palpable.
Ecological destruction is cultural violence. That is the notion at the core of Combat des lianes, an intense and mesmerising performance by choreographer Zora Snake. In the semi-darkness of a symbolically sacred forest, bodies transform into writhing forms, bending and intertwining like lianas growing towards the light. The body becomes a vessel of memory and resistance.
Festival Julidans
Programme section Julidans On Stage
Dutch premiere
Location Theater Bellevue
Venue Grote zaal
Run time 70 minutes
Genre Dance
Language Language no problem
Combat des lianes
The performance is deeply rooted in the forests of Central Africa and in the struggles of indigenous communities such as the Baka. Their knowledge, way of life and spiritual relationship with nature form the heart of the work. For them, the forest is not merely an environment, but an identity: the forest is who they are.
Seven dancers and musicians together form a living landscape. Their movements are alternately fluid and jerky, as if the body wants to cling on and escape at the same time. The choreography is steeped in rituals, trance and polyrhythms, fuelled by electronic beats and shamanic sounds. Music and dance breathe together in a ritual that both confronts and seeks to heal.
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The lianas symbolise connection and tension: rootedness and movement, protection and danger. The forest appears both as a battlefield and a refuge, where life and death coexist.
Combat des lianes turns major themes into a physically palpable sensation. The experiences of the Baka reflect forms of exclusion across the world. The theatre becomes a ritual space in which audience and performers temporarily form a single community – not a spoken indictment, but a physical call that brings together anger, hope and imagination.
Zora Snake
Zora Snake (1990) is a choreographer, dancer and performance researcher. In the Yemba language, his name means ‘someone with great empathy’, a meaning that blends seamlessly into his work. Zora Snake is regarded as one of the most promising voices within African hip-hop and performance art. He combines popping and contemporary dance with ritual, politics and public space. His work is hallmarked by the notion that dance is not a style, but an attitude: a way of questioning and changing the world.
Credits
Concept and choreography Zora Snake
Performers Zora Snake, Joy Alpuerto Ritter / Tamae Yoneda (alternating), Jessica Chiye Warshal, Zadi Landry Kipre, Gandir Prudence
Music composition Christiane Prince, Rokia Bamba
Live music Christiane Prince, Pawel Wnuczynski
Dramaturgy Youness Anzane
Set design Jean Michel Dissake
Lighting design Emily Brassier
Costume design Lamyne M
Text Dénètem Touam Bona
Stage management Stéphanie Denoiseux, Julian Fernandez Guillen
Lighting engineer Didier Covassin
Sound engineers Pawel Wnuczynski, Célia Naver
Technical management Giuliana Rienzi
Fabrics making Jean Michel Dissake
Set construction and costume making Ateliers du Théâtre National WallonieBruxelles
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Production Compagnie Zora Snake, Théâtre National WallonieBruxelles
Coproduction Charleroi Danse, Riksteatern – Stockholm, South North Foundation, Solstice – Pôle International de Production et de Diffusion des Pays de la Loire, Julidans Amsterdam, Scène nationale de l’Essonne, One Dance Festival – Plovdiv, africologneFESTIVAL – Cologne (with the support of Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes NordrheinWestfalen), Theater Freiburg, Le Manège Maubeuge – scène nationale transfrontalière
With the support of Institut français, Institut français du Cameroun (IFC) and Institut français de Suède
