Dance Within Your Dance
Choreographed by Tatiana Desardouin Presented by Passion Fruit Dance Company “Cultures emerging from organic matters, creating organic music and organic ways of moving: the groove. The groove shows that you are not only part of part of those cultures, but it reflects your identity.” – Tatiana Desardouin
What is the groove? How do you find it? How much weight does it hold in self-expression? In Dance Within Your Dance, Tatiana Desardouin invites you to connect with the techniques, rhythms and essence of hip-hop and house dance. This work shows how, in these communities, we develop, struggle, connect, and create our own and collective signatures. Welcome. Statement of intent
The “groove” is the center of this piece, yet there are two dimensions to DWYD: a dancer’s personal exploration of his or her own groove, and the groove, within the cultural realm of Hip-Hop and House and their respective roots.
I depict the journey of a dancer’s search, exploration, and appropriation of his/her own groove. The groove constitutes one of the fundamental elements of Hip-Hop and Housedance. It is paramount in defining a dancer’s identity, and I want to show how dancers influence each other’s identity in these specific communities. Our dance is built and transformed by the dancers who surround us. The inspiration is so strong that we sometimes get lost and we don’t know who we are. Little by little the adjustment is made, we know who we are and we control ourselves. We finally belong to this community and the transformation process continues until you find that groove, and you are being able to have a conversation with others and the music, through movement, rhythm & musicality without getting lost.
The groove also has an important social element to it. As Hip-Hop or Houses dancers, we must appreciate the integrity of our dance culture by acknowledging its roots. My goal through DWYD is to build bridges between communities and instigate a conversation that is too often avoided: the cultural importance of the groove. More than just an aesthetic way of moving, the groove has to be understood in its relation to black heritage, a cultural heritage We get to know each that has been neglected in many dance styles like Jazz, Lindy Hop, Rock etc. other through movement - Tatiana Desardouin.
“ The New York Times, “Watch Watch the trailer here - Tatiana Desardouin These Dancers Find Spontaneity in the cirlce” by James Thomas ” Dance Development
I developed a teaching method called “Technique within your groove”. The idea is to preserve a rhythmic flow (groove) of the body, according to a music, and to incorporate technical tools specifically from the urban dances (isolations, waves, musicality etc.). The dancer uses his natural movements with more control, or in other words, with more consciousness of his body. This method pushes the dancers to develop their coordination and rhythm: playing with two body parts and moving on two different rhythms simultaneously, for instance. This will feel unnatural, but the goal is to be fluid, remain organic, and to keep ‘grooving’ within those physical and technical difficulties. It is important for a Hip-Hop or House dancer to develop the capability of using technique within one’s groove. This allows for more freedom in one’s musicality and freestyle without losing the essence of those styles.
This method was the starting point to develop the choreography of my piece.
Dancers: I chose dancers who know me as a person and a dancer. They understand how I move, practice the same styles, but each of us have our own identities within those styles. I was able to go deep into technicality because of their skills and knowledge of Hip-Hop and Housedance. Beyond this, I was searching for dancers who were comfortable with the notion of grooving, familiar with other urban styles techniques, and who had a strong understanding of musicality. As freestyle dancers who are part of the House and Hip-Hop community, we each strongly relate to the message carried in DWYD. This has allowed us to embody the topic in its entirety.
Dance styles: I chose Hip-Hop and House because the groove is essential in those styles (and in other social dance styles) Staging and Technicalities
Music: I focus on 3 styles of music: house, broken-beat, and hip-hop. The music is really important in those styles, it was also important for me to bring musics that represent truly the culture and the relationship between those styles. Those styles took birth because of their music, not the other way around, and those musics are filled with soul and grooves, which is the main topic of that piece. For the purpose of the piece, it couldn’t have been other genres of music. We also had the singer Sam I Am Montolla doing vocals on the quarter of the piece.
Costumes: The costumes are simple, but evoke femininity and fluidity so that the movements can be highlighted and clear.
Multimedia: Video projection
Stage-use lighting: the light doesn’t play a role in the meaning or structure of the piece but is used mostly to give an atmosphere for each section and highlighting what is expressed on stage.
Name of the Company: PASSION FRUIT DANCE COMPANY Title of the piece: Dance Within Your Dance Choreographed by: Tatiana Desardouin Performed by Passion Fruit Dance Company: Tatiana Desardouin, Mai Lê Ho & Lauriane Ogay External Eye: Adesola Osakalumi and Miki Tuesday Vocals (acapella): Sam I Am Montolla Music & video editing, photos: Loreto Jamlig Lighting Designer: Coel Rodriguez Duration: Short Version (20 minutes) / Full version (1 hour) Music credits: The Clown by Maribou State Feat. Pedestrian (Axel Bowman Remix) The reminiscence by Altered Natives Imam by Mark De Clive Lowe & Daz-I-Kue (Re-Bruk Remix) There Now acapella by Sam I Am Montolla Galactic Reigns by Abjo Easy by Question There Now by Frits Wentink (feat. Loes Jongerling) Caixa Gang by Abjo. Biographies
Tatiana Desardouin
Tatiana Desardouin is a professional dancer, dance instructor, choreographer, and event organizer. She holds a Master’s Degree as an Adult Educator. Tatiana won several competitions in Switzerland and abroad (Italy, Denmark, Canada, France), had the opportunity to dance in Bercy in Paris for the world finals of Juste Debout in the House category in 2010, and has been sought been sought out to give workshops and judge competitions in Switzerland and overseas (USA, Canada, Italy, Austria, Canada, Italy, France, Peru, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Slovakia and Germany). In 2017, she had the chance to perform at the Madison Square Garden in New York and the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia as a dancer for the known rock band "Arcade Fire" for their tour https://www.everythingnow.com/ .
Tatiana has been very involved in the growth and development of the Swiss Hip-Hop scene. She has been a Hip-Hop dance teacher in two Swiss contemporary dance companies, ”L’Estuaire” and “Alias,” and has taught Hip-Hop dance in schools: Studio des Bains, and Centre de Formation Professionnelle des Arts Appliquées (CFPAA) for the contemporary dance branch in Geneva for 12 years. With Loïc Dinga, she opened her own dance school in Geneva, Le Centre Hip-Hop www.centrehiphop.ch. She is a member of the JAIA association https://www.facebook.com/JAIAassociation/ , with which she organizes dance camps, the JAIA Battle, House, Hip-Hop and Dancehall dance sessions “Sweat your House” and “LES 5 SENS” (a party which combines different art forms that appeal the five senses and connect different artistic worlds through the clubbing culture). In 2012, she was one of the four dancers and creators of the “Continuum” Hip-Hop dance company, the first Hip-Hop dance company in Geneva.
Tatiana moved to New York in 2016, and teaches Hip-Hop and House at “EXPG New York.” She is also now part of the legendary Rennie Harris PureMovement Dance Company in Philadelphia. She is now building her dance company called “Passion Fruit”, performing at Lehigh Valley dance festival, Summerstage / Ladies of Hip-Hop festival 2017, Jacob's Pillow for the Inside/Out festival (https://www.jacobspillow.org/events/insideout-passion-fruit/) and the legendary Apollo Theater for the "Breakin' Convention" festival.
Using her first influences: Afro-Haïtian dance, and dancehall, Tatiana continues to develop and grow in her dance. Amongst others, she specializes in Hip-Hop and House Dance. [email protected] www.facebook.com/PassionFruitDanceCompany/
www.facebook.com/tatiana.desardouin @passionfruitdanceco @tatianadesardouin Mai Lê Hô
Born in France, Mai Lê Hô is a professional dancer, choreographer, curator and arts educator who relocated to Brooklyn in 2009. In 2013 she joined the legendary hip-hop company Rennie Harris PureMovement, performing and/or teaching throughout the United States (Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, LA Music Center), and abroad (US Cultural Ambassador in Central Africa in 2013). In 2016 she joined the emerging Passion Fruit Dance Company, performing at Jacob’s Pillow and the Apollo Theater. She also toured Europe with Detroit music producer Theo Parrish in 2014 as a dancer in his live band THE UNIT, in places such as the Worldwide Festival (Sete, FR), London’s Barbican, Barcelona’s Sala Apolo.
Mai Lê relentlessly promotes underground Hip-Hop & House cultures locally and internationally, helping bring awareness about their positive impact. She used to co-produce the USA segment of Juste Debout, one of the biggest street dance competitions in the world. She also strongly advocates for the harmonious marriage of dance and music, primarily through her event LayeRhythm: a Jam Session of Music & Dance, created in 2015 in NYC and now expanding to other cities such as Philadephia and Detroit.
Currently, Mai Lê is the Program Director of It’s Showtime NYC!, a program that celebrates NYC street culture and provides performance and professional development opportunities to street and subway dancers. The program is administered by Dancing In The Streets. [email protected]
www.mailegrooves.com
@mailegrooves Lauriane Ogay
Lauriane Ogay, professional dancer, dance instructor, discovered the hip-hop culture as a teenager in Switzerland. She right away started to research where she could learn street dance styles and be part of that community.
Eager to get better and learn more about it, she went from school to school, to finally find what she was looking for: "First Move" dance school. This is when she started doing performances and competition (Battle). Luckily, she has been able to meet the right people who were able to open the doors to this underground culture and initiate her to dance . After a couple of years, she also joined another dance school called "Urban Elite", with whom she was able to do performances as well.
She has been travelling to different countries : France, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Canada and USA to participate in events, parties and workshops. Knowing where the culture was coming from, New York came up on her travel journey in 2008 and this triggered a new passion for House Dance culture. She started doing classes (Brian Green, Enjoe, Caleaf), parties and everything that could immerse her [email protected] in that culture. [email protected] @loryane_lo She moved in 2012 to New York. She is now a member of the legendary Dance Fusion Family and Passion Fruit Dance Company. Sam I Am Montolla
Sam I Am Montolla is an artist in motion. She started with dance at a young age and her love of music lead her to singing and songwriting. Brought up with Caribbean parents, exposed to Hip Hop culture, singing Gospel for a number of years and a lover of R&B and Funk, this Montreal songstress with all this diversity has made it apparent in her style. Sam I Am Montolla has been a featured artist on The Songwriter’s Association of Canada in 2012 and in April 2017 was a featured artist on the MAtv series “Studios, Lofts and Jam Spaces” produced by Juliet Lammers.
Working with many artists from around the city from the likes of Monk-e, Waahli, the Narcicyst, and working plenty with Jai Nitai Lotus, she is featured on “Pi (Brahma Built)”, “Broken Toys” and “Noir” off of Jai's mixtape "ACKNOWLEDGEMENT". Most recently released is her single and video "Move Up:The Dream Chronicles", produced by Shash'u and "Bare Take 1", a live acoustic performance of her originals, showing her vulnerability.
"Sam is Montreal’s queen of neo-soul. Holy damn. This girl’s vocals hit you right in the soul". Sarah Jay - Hip Hop Canada
[email protected] www.samiammontolla.com @iamsamhinds Loreto Jamlig
Loreto Jamlig a.k.a Still1 is a practitioner and student of both DJing and photography and also a representative of Rock So Fresh, LEVE7SEVEN, and Mighty4.
In 2012, he relocated to Brooklyn in order to further hone and study his craft. Since then, he has provided music for various establishments and events around NYC and in different countries such as Cyprus, Japan, and Switzerland. He’s also shot events events ranging from Freestyle Sessions, Rock the Bells, and Panorama while also shooting for companies and brands working with Netflix, Warner Bros, and Dark Horse.
www.still1.com https://www.facebook.com/stilluno/ It surges through the floor, up into the seats, pulses inside the walls and fills the air at the Bronx Academy of Arts and “ Dance/BAAD! - it takes hold and reverberates within the audience. The G R O O V E.
-Joya Powell, A GROOVEology: Reflections on Dance Within Your Dance ”
Read the full article here
About Passion Fruit Dance Company
Tatiana’s interest in building her own dance company started in Geneva as a result of the many dance pieces she created. Tatiana was the co-founder of Continuum: the first hip-hop dance company in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2016, she moved to New York to grow as an artist and to pursue her dream of creating a company of her own. She launched Passion Fruit Dance Company with “Dance Within Your Dance,” a new piece that she created in New York specifically for that purpose.
Passion Fruit project emerged from all of Tatiana’s activities in the hip-hop and house communities of Switzerland: She opened her dance school called “CENTRE HIP-HOP” (www.centrehiphop.ch), she is part of a non-profit organization called JAIA (https://www.facebook.com/JAIAassociation/?fref=ts), where they organized many events for the community such as dance camps (camp JAIA), sessions (Sweat Your House"), battles (“JAIA battle”), and parties (“les 5 sens”). Tatiana is still involved in these projects, even from the United States.
Tatiana has been teaching Hip-Hop and House with passion for 13 years. Through her teaching, she realized that people weren’t just learning dance moves, but a way of life. She received countless testimonies from students and/or their parents of the positive impact that studying with her was having on their lives. Many of the students who were not seeking professional dance careers, found in dancing some elements that were helpful in their lives, their growth, their confidence, their self-esteem, their creativity, and their motivation.
Tatiana has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s of Science of Education with a focus in Adult Education. She simply loves to teach and wants to use her skills to help others.
All of this led her to PASSION FRUIT Dance Company – a Street Dance Theater Company with socially engaged art projects, composed of 4 directions:
- Street Dance Theater performances - Workshops - “PASSION FRUIT SEEDS” - A Teaching program, providing tools supporting different communities through hip-hop & house culture - “LES 5 SENS” - A multisensory experience within a cultural party ( an event combining different art forms that appeal to the five senses). Photos by Loreto Still1 Jamlig Tatiana Desardouin and Passion Fruit Dance Company have an easy, relaxed style that harvests all the cool and command of classic hip hop and smartly position it present day onto a theater stage with an all female group. The “ quiet confidence and subtly of the choreography is deepened by the keen performers who individually hold their own and as a group hold it down.
Joseph Hall, Deputy Director BAAD! Bronx Academy ofArts and Dance ”
“Passion Fruit Dance is a company to watch! They are consummate professionals and exceptional dancers.”
“ Jamilla Deria, Program Director, Apollo Theater ”
After you watch Passion Fruit Dance Company perform, you'll never listen to house music the same way again. Their dances move with and then beyond the beats to explore issues within the hip-hop and dance communities: “ competition, creativity, the impact of Black and African diaspora cultures, the generosity of hip-hop and its inclusion of whoever has the determination and inspiration to stay with it and make it their own.
Jane Gabriels, Ph.D, Pepatián ” I had the pleasure of working with Passionfruit Dance company at my Spring Dance Festival at the Palace of Fine Arts in April of 2018. All the audience members were so moved by the performance and it was wonderful to work with Tatiana, Mai Le and Lauriane! They were so “ professional in every way and are also incredible dancers/performers. I would work with them again in a heartbeat and look forward to seeing future creations from this talented trio." - Sandy Lee, Director, City Dance Live and City Dance Studios
Sandy Lee, Director, City Dance Live and City Dance Studios ”
"...une complicité sans égale entre des interprètes qui entretiennent une conversation transmise à travers le corps avec authenticité et intensité..." “ Alexandra 'Spicey' Landé Ebnfloh Company ”
Their use of street dance vocabulary is vibrant, electrifying, and thoughtful. Passion is absolutely the company to watch “ Jessica Marino JAMpress Management & TRACKS // Where will dance take you? ” This is one of the best street dance shows I’ve seen in the last few years!!! A perfect example of how authentic street dance can do more than just entertain in the theatre setting “
Crazy Smooth (artistic director of Bboyizm Dance Company) ”
I discovered Passion Fruit at the Bronx Showcase one year during APAP and after seeing so many showings that weekend at the end Passion Fruit rose to top of my list as one of the most unique performances. They have incredible feminine energy mixed with pure talent and authenticity. They also totally have their own movement practice going on. I immediately booked them for the Jacob's Pillow “ Inside/Out Series. While at the Pillow they taught a 10 minute hip-hop class to the audience and worked with a local b-boy group with such kindness and enthusiasm. It is a joy to work with artists like Passion Fruit.
Ariana Brawley, Associate Producer, Jacob's Pillow ”
"Passion Fruit vividly push hip-hop's inherent capacity to articulate important ideas in a powerful and joyous ensemble work" “ Simon Dove, Curator, Crossing the Lines Festival ” Tatiana's work is soulful, full of the complexity and joy that exists in the world, the clubs and our hearts . A great new voice has arrived. BRAVO “ Adesola Osakalumi
Fela, Equus, Syncing Ink, Othello (Movement Director) ”
Tatiana Desardouin and the Passion Fruit Dance Company are one of the most exciting young dance companies I've seen in the past few years. The company, under Ms. Desardouin's direction, is exploring innovative ways to bring “ together traditional and contemporary movement languages, that offer audiences a new lens by which to enjoy a dance concert in 2018!
George Emilio Sanchez Performance Artist ” Chairperson of Performing and Creative Arts College of Staten Island/CUNY Past Performances
NEW YORK CITY:
The Apollo Theater, Breakin’ Convention Festival (2017);
Pregones Theater, 7th annual “Bronx Artists Now” organized by Pepatian, Jane Gabriels organization;(2017)
Pregones Theater, 8th annual APAP showcase “Bronx Artists Now” organized by Pepatian, Jane Gabriels organization (2018)
BAAD!Theater, “Dance Your Future 2017” a residency we had the chance to be awarded to be part of, organised by “Pepatian” organization in collaboration with “BAAD! Theater”, the premiere full version of her piece “Dance Within Your Dance” (1 hour).
BAAD! Theater, “BADD! Ass women” Festival (2017);
Gibney Dance Theater, “TRACKS NYC” (2018);
Summerstage Queensbridge Park, for Ladies of Hip.Hop Festival (2017);
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, at Ladies of Hip-Hop Festival (2017);
Harlem Stage for the "E-Moves 19 Festival (2018);
OTHER LOCATIONS:
Jacob’s Pillow, Inside/Out Festival (2017); - MASSACHUSETTS
“Spring Up Festival”, Cedar Crest College (2017); - ALLENTOWN
The Performance Garage Theater, for the “Movemakers” danceschool spring dance show, (2017); - PHILADELPHIA Haitian Organization for Health Services, Inc. (HOHS), annual Mother’s Day even (2017); - LONG ISLAND
M.A.I. (Montreal, Arts Multiculturels), “Les Soirees 100LUX” (2018); - MONTREAL
The Palace of Fine Arts, "City Dance On Stage “ (2018); - SAN FRANCISCO
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES:
Summerstage at Coffey Park (2018); - NEW YORK
Haitian Organization for Health Services, Inc. (HOHS), annual Mother’s Day event (2018); - LONG ISLAND
The Joe's Pub, "Dance Now" (2018); - NEW YORK
Photos by Marisol Diaz The way you dance tells me how comfortable you are in your own body, how “free you are moving through the world. It requires you to accept the idea that people might see into you.
- Tatiana Desardouin. The New York Times, “Watch These Dancers Find Spontaneity in the Cirlce” by James Thomas ”