SAKÎNA
PERFORMANCE
« Sakîna » is an Arabic word filled with meaning, that can be translated by inner peace, quiet, calm, serenity, rest. It also describes an interior state characterized by a profound harmony, absolute tranquility, a feeling of inner security.
« The sakîna is a universal ideal,the purpose of human inner quests in many different cultures and since times immemorial. In Greek presocratic philosophy, the sakîna is called ataraxia, coming form the Greek word ataraksis, meaning the absence of trouble. Ataraxia describes an absolute stillness of the soul, considered in epicurianisme and stoicism as happiness. The sakîna is an ecumenical ideal that the three monotheism have in common, as the Arabic word shares the same root that the Hebrew word shkîna and Aramaic (Jesus’ language) shkhïntâ ». Ahmed Eleuch
A MINIMALIST PERFORMANCE
Designed in connection with the installation Whirling Inside (painting and photo about dance, whirling, and the sensations they imply), Sakîna explores simple intentions and materials that are essential to humans. Water, life. Cloth, protection. It follows a path of initiation, mourning, rebirth.
VEILING, UNVEILING: BETWEEN BODY AND MATTER
The creative process of Sakîna connects the dancing body to the graphical line: Alexia dances, swinging her upper body over and over, just as in the Egyptian Zar and like the Sufi Dhikr. Shapes arise on posters of former pieces, the recycling is both material and symbolic. The movements create a random trajectory for the works on the ground around the dancer, they glide on and above the floor. The body is hidden and revealed by the cloth, the costume itself is covered with signs and poetry, created through automatic writing.
« According to me, writing is essentially creating, in the language I live in, the irrepressible movement of the outer body. » (Assia Djebar, quoted by Pierre Michon)
The veil I wear
Was woven by your hands
With an invisible silk
I breath its color
My veil is so thin
That often I forget it
I inspire its presence
I move it
I unfold it and fly »
Alexia Traore (Around Us, poem from Sakîna)
For quiet to come, one need to accept themselves in the present, imprint their own perception of things, of the world, of its frailness.
CALM. QUIET.
In the short version of this solo dance performance, the dancer Alexia Traore contemplative and mesmerizing movements fill the space with slowness.
By reusing posters of her former pieces, she builds her symbolic estate, where the past fosters the present. She evokes and invokes. She strives for healing through her circular movements.
The dance hints at moments, beings representing “the calm of crossings*” she is looking for: walking, sleeping, the face of a unique love. A smile in the silence. A veil of light and peace.
Alexia Traore : Dance, Visual research.
Bouabdellah Khelifi : Singing, Violon, Oud.
(*translation/poetic interpretation of the word sakîna by Assia Djebar, interviewed by Mireille Calle-Gruber).
« The sakîna is a universal ideal,the purpose of human inner quests in many different cultures and since times immemorial. In Greek presocratic philosophy, the sakîna is called ataraxia, coming form the Greek word ataraksis, meaning the absence of trouble. Ataraxia describes an absolute stillness of the soul, considered in epicurianisme and stoicism as happiness. The sakîna is an ecumenical ideal that the three monotheism have in common, as the Arabic word shares the same root that the Hebrew word shkîna and Aramaic (Jesus’ language) shkhïntâ ». Ahmed Eleuch
A MINIMALIST PERFORMANCE
Designed in connection with the installation Whirling Inside (painting and photo about dance, whirling, and the sensations they imply), Sakîna explores simple intentions and materials that are essential to humans. Water, life. Cloth, protection. It follows a path of initiation, mourning, rebirth.
VEILING, UNVEILING: BETWEEN BODY AND MATTER
The creative process of Sakîna connects the dancing body to the graphical line: Alexia dances, swinging her upper body over and over, just as in the Egyptian Zar and like the Sufi Dhikr. Shapes arise on posters of former pieces, the recycling is both material and symbolic. The movements create a random trajectory for the works on the ground around the dancer, they glide on and above the floor. The body is hidden and revealed by the cloth, the costume itself is covered with signs and poetry, created through automatic writing.
« According to me, writing is essentially creating, in the language I live in, the irrepressible movement of the outer body. » (Assia Djebar, quoted by Pierre Michon)
The veil I wear
Was woven by your hands
With an invisible silk
I breath its color
My veil is so thin
That often I forget it
I inspire its presence
I move it
I unfold it and fly »
Alexia Traore (Around Us, poem from Sakîna)
For quiet to come, one need to accept themselves in the present, imprint their own perception of things, of the world, of its frailness.
CALM. QUIET.
In the short version of this solo dance performance, the dancer Alexia Traore contemplative and mesmerizing movements fill the space with slowness.
By reusing posters of her former pieces, she builds her symbolic estate, where the past fosters the present. She evokes and invokes. She strives for healing through her circular movements.
The dance hints at moments, beings representing “the calm of crossings*” she is looking for: walking, sleeping, the face of a unique love. A smile in the silence. A veil of light and peace.
Dance, Visual research : Alexia Traore
(*translation/poetic interpretation of the word sakîna by Assia Djebar, interviewed by Mireille Calle-Gruber)
« Sakîna » is an Arabic word filled with meaning, that can be translated by inner peace, quiet, calm, serenity, rest. It also describes an interior state characterized by a profound harmony, absolute tranquility, a feeling of inner security.
