Contre-nature

Name: Contre-nature
Start: 2027-01-07 19:00:00+11:00
End: 2027-01-08 19:00:00+11:00
Location: Sydney Opera House

Rachid Ouramdane

France

A sweeping ode to loss. 

Description

Australian Exclusive Compagnie de Chaillot

In Contre-nature, Franco-Algerian choreographer Rachid Ouramdance blends dance and stagecraft to create storytelling magic. Fog wreathes the stage and darkly clad figures sweep effortlessly between floor and air, past and present, transforming movement into questions that strike at the heart: what can anchor you outside of memory? Who will hold you when loss strikes hardest?

For Ouramdane, there’s something profound in the act of holding another person aloft, in the moment of surrender, and keeping both audience and dancers suspended in tension. Exhilarating and tender by turns, Contre-nature feels weightless without ever losing its human centre. 

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

“A beauty that is both magical and moving.”

LE MONDE

“They invent a new form of surrender.”

TÉLÉRAMA

Dance

Rachid Ouramdane

France

Rachid Ouramdane discovered dance through hip-hop at the age of 12 and furthered his skills through courses in classical and modern dance. In the early 1990s, he devoted himself full time to dance and joined the National Centre for Contemporary Dance in Angers.

Ouramdane’s work often draws on the personal testimonies and experiences of outsiders or vulnerable individuals (refugee children, victims of torture or natural disasters, practitioners of extreme sports), and includes collaboration with circus artists, authors, visual artists and musicians.

In 2021, the choreographer took over as director of Chaillot - Théâtre national de la Danse and made it into the theater of diversity and hospitality, increasingly devoted to building human interactions and bringing dance to unexpected places.

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