The project started in November 2015 when we all gathered in Destelheide (cultural center in Dworp, Belgium) for a week, with the shared wish of putting our ideas, our movements and our creativity together in order to create an original dance piece.

927a5411-1474525068

After 7 months of reflections and research, the four of us are back working together and determined to finish the project and ultimately to share it with you on stage.

To achieve this, an artistic centre on the island of Corfu in Greece will welcome us from the 26th of October until the 21st of November 2016. This residency is essential in order to have the best possible conditions for creating the piece, and it is a great logistic help.

The residency will enable us to have the piece ready the 27th of January 2017 for the Belgian premier in the theatre Cité Culture in Brussels.

927a5511-1474525087

So, what is the piece about?

The contemporary dance performance, ZEMIATA, is inspired by the different relationships that exist in a group of people during a common ritual (religious, traditional and/or spiritual) in our present day world.

We are interested in the social and emotional aspects, which will evolve between the people who share the same faith and the same beliefs.

In researching that we will explore and experiment together around the signification of being part of this ritual’s practice in society nowadays. We are interested in feeling and understanding what brings a person to being part of rituals and what binds her to her group.

ZEMIATA will be a physical contemporary dance piece intertwining emotion, movement and expression which will make you travel inside different characters during a ritual’s practice.

927a1337-1474839343

Since a few years, I am interested in different cultures and how these cultures can coexist together in a world more and more multicultural.

That is also why we are a team of four people coming from different countries and different cultures (Belgium, France, Italia, Russia).

This multicultural team will bring us more inspiration and ideas during the creation process.

Furthermore, the concept of ritual has been chosen on purpose, indeed, I think that the ritual, under all its different aspects, permits to bring human beings closer and to differentiate them at the same time because it links us to our culture.

This is important to me because I come from two different culture : Belgian and Macedonian that offered me two different visions of the world. This open mind made me want to discover and to share with other cultures. Moreover, growing up in a multicultural country like Belgium, the notion of diversity was always part of my daily life.

In the video link of the first residency in November 2015, that was made with 5 dancers in the artistic center Destlheide we can see the first drafts of the choreography. During this working period, the piece was named « ON/OFF ». After few researchs, I choose to change the name « ON/OFF » in « Zemiata » which means «soil».

https://vimeo.com/146395754

In my opinion, dance is excellent to develope and present this topic because body rituals are part of our daily training as dancers. This is the reason why I carefully choose the artists present in this piece. Every dancer has a movement quality to bring to « Zemiata » and more important, they believe in this project.

927a1414-1474525114

Let me introduce the team :

Concept and choreography : Youri De Gussem

Creation and interpretation : Francesca Chiodi Latini – Youri De Gussem – Julie Querre – Anna Senognoeva

Video edit : Fa.Bamovska

Photography : Jason Aldridge

Music composition : Valentin Vincent

Youri De Gussem – Choreographer/performer

After four years of study in the royal conservatory of Antwerp, Artesis and in P.A.R.T.S., he focuses on the development of his own artistic work.

Paralel to that, he work for different choreographers : Ricardo Ambrozio for the piece « Homo Urbanus », Jordi Vidal Lopez for the piece « La Rencontre » and Sarah Baltzinger for the piece « In The Shape of Love ».

Julie Querre – Performer/creation

Born in the South of France, Julie studied dance at the conservatory of Bordeaux and at the national center of Roubaix. After those studies, she obtained her Bachelor at the royal conservatory of Antwerp in Belgium. Since that, she has worked as a dancer with severals choreographer and artists like Jelena Kostic, Koen de Preter and Martha!tentatief company. In 2016, Julie begins to work with Jordi L.Vidal company for the project "La rencontre" and collaborates with Youri De Gussem for the pieces « Un Deux » and« Zemiata ». She also gives contemporary dance masterclass in academies in Belgium.

Francesca Chiodi Latini – Performer/creation

Born in Torino in Italia, she started her studies in contemporary dance in combination with ballet technique. After her graduation from Liceo Artistico “Renato Cottini”, she moved to Paris where she trained with the choreographer Corinne Lanselle to then join her company in 2013. After that, Brussels became her base during a short period and she composed in 2014 her first solo PRIMARI, presented in different festivals in Europe. She worked for different choreographer in Belgium and Italia for severals projects in 2014 like Marcelo Evelin and Virgilio Sieni company.

She is currently attending her third year at Artesis, the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp.

Anna Senognoeva – Performer/creation

Born in Tver, Russia, she studied contemporary dance at Royal Conservatory of Antwerp (BE), where Anya graduated in 2014. During her studies she participated few times to P.A.C.T.T. Dance Festival with " Aporie "choreographed by Iris Bouche and " ZeroDotOne " by Filip Van Huffel. She also danced "Venn" where she discovered the language of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Anya did her internship with in Ultima Vez.

She works with different choreographers like Ricardo Ambrozzio , Gregory Maqoma, Jean Guillaume Weis and lately Gotra ballet - Joost Vrouenaerts.

Zemiata Création à Corfou 2016 - Youri De Gussem