After directing the contemporary dance festival 'On Marche' in Marrakech, Morocco, Taoufiq Izeddiou prepares expert and amateur dancers for the public presentation of '100 passi quasi' - 100 steps, almost -, at the first international festival of Atlas of Transitions, held in Bologna, Italy, from 15th to 24th June 2018. Taoufiq's current work at San Martino theatre, Bologna, is supported by the artistic experience of Said Ait El Moumen, musician, dancer, and choreographer, co-founder of the first contemporary dance company in Morocco 'Anania' together with Taoufiq, in 2002, and, more recently, artistic director of Corpo Locale.COM, Biella, Italy.
Between 7th and 12th April, and then between 16th and 22nd June, about 100 people will be sharing their emotional experiences by walking together and creating the (dancing) community that will cross the squares of Bologna on 23rd and 24th June. For about 60 minutes, '100 passi quasi' will break the rhythm of the city's and its citizenships' daily life while restoring the natutal sound of people's bodies and their gestures.
After an initial, very slow start, the dancers will approach the musicians playing and standing by at the opposite side of the square, step by step, faster and faster, thus composing the energetic atmosphere that will explode as a collective joy in the final moments of the performance. Everyone will be invited to dance and open up to the other by the means of their bodies.
The creative practice of '100 passi quasi' by Taoufiq Izeddiou invites the participants as well as the performance's spectators to perceive public spaces and time from a new perspective, thanks to which their relationship with the others will be experienced with a renewed enthusiasm.
Pictures by Konstancja Dunin-Wasowicz
