The migratory journey of an illegal immigrant traveling from Afghanistan to the port of Calais in hopes of reaching England is the narrative thread on which Algerian-born choreographer Ali Salmi has based his creation with the artist collective Osmosis. "Transit" is a performance inspired in part by the photographs of Ad van Denderen, and it stands out not only for its setting—a double-trailer truck that serves as both the stage and a projection screen for numerous accompanying films—but also for its blend of documentary realism and theatrical fiction.
The musical score is intertwined with Maghreb/Middle Eastern vocal improvisation by Rachid Zaïdi, creating a rich tapestry of sound. The performance interlaces the immediacy of dance happening within the truck's various spaces with outdoor film footage—deserts, cities, speeding cars, and sunsets over the sea. This acrobatic and captivating dance is conceived as "the future of street arts."
Ali Salmi founded the collective Osmosis in Nancy in 1993. Born in France to an Algerian family, he came to dance late, having initially studied architecture. After discovering dance, he briefly trained at Marcel Marceau's school, then studied Butoh with Min Tanaka, and eventually spent five years dancing with Wim Vandekeybus' Ultima Vez company. This experience deeply influences his physically and emotionally intense dance style. With Osmosis, which Salmi defines as Physical Dance Theatre/Imaginaire Urbain, he aims to explore nomadism and the memory of others through his own culture and the Arab world's imagination. Concurrently, he has collaborated with Michel Noiret's company, furthering his exploration of video as revealed in "Transit."
www.osmosiscie.com
