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.