DIALOGUE BETWEEN BODY AND ARCHITECTURE

“Dancing body, danced spaces”

Workshop from 18 to 25 May 2009 in Tangier

With Graziella Boggiano and Nordin Traghane

Dance and Architecture are closely related. One is built on mobility and movement, whereas
the other fixes its spatial designs, and builds our environment. Yet in their spatial work,
whether static or dynamic, they both concentrate on our perception of our environment, and
on how we represent the world and the way it turns.

"Tracing the invisible" is how Jean Cocteau defined the poet’s task. A dancing body is
poetry too, and the poet is the one who makes the body dance. Space is a notion that crosses
the phenomenological spectrum from the concrete to the abstract, via the social dimension.
Topography, geography, natural settings, elements; cultural, historical, sociological areas,
architectural and urban domains; metaphysical sphere, human condition, ephemeral existence,
are all spaces that can be danced. Does the dancing body create the space it invests? To
where does the danced space extend when it exceeds the boundaries of the stage?

…the sensory impoverishment of most contemporary buildings, and the sadness, monotony
and sterility, on the tactile level of the urban environment. This impoverishment is all the
more striking as modern times celebrate the sensation of the body and of physical
freedom…the beliefs regarding the body help fashion a city… (1)

(1) Excerpted from a book by Sennett: La Chair et la Pierre [Flesh and Stone] – Editions de la Passion

A theatre/dance workshop from 18 to 24 May 2009 devoted to:

1
Dialogue between Body and Architecture or “Dancing body, danced
spaces” organised in connection with the fifth “Performing Tangier” which will be held
from 20 to 24 May 2009 in Tangier, Morocco.

Produced by Traces Asbl – Brussels, Belgium

With the support of the City of Brussels, International Solidarity
Instructors:
Graziella Boggiano – Actress, author and director,
Nordin Traghane – dancer and choreographer.

This workshop is intended for 25 people (m/f) (actors, dancers, filmmakers, plastic
artists, musicians, DJs… or any person wishing to participate).

A journey through the different rhythms of dance, of the body resonating with its
immediate environment (space, movement, event) and by extension how our perception
of space is manipulated.
An investigation of the body’s memory.
An exploration of the neutral mask, of the body and its theatricality, of dance in all its
forms.

Imagine: “make space dance.”

Graziella Boggiano first earned a degree in “business and languages” at the European
Institute in Brussels, and initially went to work for multinationals. In 1987, she
underwent a short training course on Air Traffic Control at Eurocontrol, where she
stayed until 2001. An artist deep down, she decided to leave everything and start
classical voice training. A meeting with a young director proved decisive: she started
acting in the theatre. Since then, it has been one project after another, whether in the
theatre, as actress or director, or as a teacher and author.

Nordin Traghane earned a degree in Architecture from the Horta Institute of the
(French-speaking) Free University of Brussels. He decided not to become an architect,
however, but to embark on a career in dance. Although specialised in Hip Hop and
Break Dancing, he also ventures into contemporary dance. He works internationally for
television, the event business, advertising and video clip production. He also teaches in
several dance schools in Belgium.