Walking and dancing in Marrakech
It is now a tradition that is part of the urban landscape of the city of Marrakech. Every year, the “ocher city” as it is nicknamed takes to the dance floor, with the “On Marche” International Contemporary Dance Festival, which is in its sixteenth edition.
This year’s edition will take place from March 10 to 18, 2023, after two major dance tours. The first one took place in December 2022 which was the first edition of the “Caravan of the Body” (Kafilat Al Ajssad) that went to meet the Moroccan audience. This concept was created by Taoufiq Izeddiou (founder of the “On Marche” festival and renowned choreographer). Then, in January 2023, the successful tour of the artist’s Hmdacha choreography took place, through the French (Cultural) Institutes of the kingdom, as part of the France – Morocco 2023 cultural season. This show was a great success at each of its stages. The festival, which aims to be a real popular celebration, defends itself against any elitism, a notion that could stick to contemporary dance and the choreographic arts. The event is therefore aimed at all audiences: youth, families, amateurs, performing arts professionals, dancers, and even programmers. The shows, free of charge, will be deployed throughout the city thanks to historical partnerships and thanks to the people who join the adventure. Thus, “On Marche” will be performed at the open-air theater and in the Leïla Alaoui hall of the French (Cultural) Institute in Marrakech, at the Denise Masson house, at the Es-Saadi Marrakech Resort, on the Jemaa El Fna square, at the museum of the Palmeraie, at the ESAV School of Visual Arts, at the M’Art studio and at the Meydene space on M Avenue.
The festival offers to the public high-level contemporary dance performances by artists from Tunisia, Palestine, Burkina Faso, France, Belgium, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Morocco, among other countries. Its program also offers , among other things, master-classes and meetings to learn and discuss dance and the dancing body with professionals from the US, Morocco, Tunisia, from the Northern Ballet of the Roubaix National Choreographic Center (France), from the National Choreographic Center Belfort (France), and other professionals.
The “On Marche” Festival intends to go beyond the simple show in front of which festival-goers would be only simple and static spectators for a moment. “With «On Marche», people look, yes, it’s true. But, people dance, people exchange, and people reflect, and spectators become actors of the dancing act”, say the organizers. New features will also be on the program for this 16th edition, like the Taklif prize which will reward young choreographers during training, dance workshops, and during a discussion forum.
Born to dance
A native of Morocco and now based in Aix-en-Provence (Southern France), Taoufiq Izeddiou is a choreographer, teacher, and artistic director of the Anania Dance Company and of the “On Marche” festival in Marrakech. Taoufiq Izeddiou studied architecture and practiced boxing and theater before discovering a passion for contemporary dance, a training he describes as “wild” . Bernardo Montet introduced him to the world of the professional scene in 1997 and shared with him, in the years that followed, his questions about origin and identity. Alongside his career as a professional dancer, notably at the National Choreographic Center of the city of Tours (France), Taoufiq Izeddiou signed his first choreography in 2000, then founded with his friends the first contemporary dance company in Morocco, called Anania. Concerned about transmission and pedagogy, Izeddiou set up the first Moroccan contemporary dance training, Al Mokhtabar, from which several dancers from the Anania Dance Company came. Izeddiou is also at the origin of the “On Marche” festival , which he still directs today. Recently, he launched the first school of choreographic arts in Marrakech, called Nafass (meaning “breath” ).
Amine BOUSHABA
