Outsider

Name: Outsider
Start: 2027-01-12 19:00:00+11:00
End: 2027-01-14 18:30:00+11:00
Location: The Cutaway

Rachid Ouramdane

Switzerland

A daring high-wire ballet that defies belief. 

Description

Australian Exclusive Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève

Twenty dancers from Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève join four extreme sports athletes in a spectacular high-wire ballet where the crowd becomes part of the choreography. Lit like day’s end, The Cutaway is transformed with a cat’s cradle of tightropes and cables, while the propulsive music of avant-garde legend Julius Eastman sets a heart-thumping tone. 

Franco-Algerian choreographer Rachid Ouramdane creates a theatrical experience that's both disciplined and unpredictable, where precision and instability co-exist in the same moment, and performers work on the knife-edge of shared risk.

Outsider follows bodies as they gather, scatter, support and fall. Patterns form, then dissolve. Individuals emerge, only to be swept back into the mass. Every lift, leap and dive tests the balance between freedom and belonging. The result is a soaring heart-stopper of collective movement that points to the beauty of what holds us together, and the danger of coming apart.

Outsider is part of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef and Arpels program. Discover more here.

"transfixing ... dance as an exercise in physics and composition.”

THE GUARDIAN

“plays enticingly with a sense of jeopardy.”

THE STAGE UK

Dance

Rachid Ouramdane

France

Rachid Ouramdane is a French choreographer and performer whose work explores personal testimony and lived experience, transforming individual stories into powerful choreographic forms. Trained at the Centre national de danse contemporaine in Angers, he has collaborated with artists including Meg Stuart, Odile Duboc, Alain Buffard and Christian Rizzo. His interdisciplinary approach has also led him to work with circus artists, writers, visual artists and musicians. Since April 2021, he has served as President and Director of Chaillot – Théâtre national de la Danse, where he champions an artistic vision centred on diversity, hospitality and openness across disciplines.

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