
Fampitaha, fampita, fampitàna means “comparison, transmission, rivalry” in Malagasy. On stage, four bodies defy one another, choose each other and purge themselves of the layers of violence that constitute them. Presented as a line of rediscovered dialogue between the children of diasporas and their places of origin, Fampitaha, fampita, fampitána formulates a plural narrative in which the fragmentation of these experiences is as vibrant as their reappropriation. In this quartet, choreographer Soa Ratsifandrihana seeks a vocabulary between bodies and history to better understand what links and separates them. Together with her team, guitarist Joël Rabesolo and performers Audrey Merilus and Stanley Ollivier, Ratsifandrihana constructs a new otherness in which bodies emerge from their muteness, offering themselves the possibility of language. Written out before us is a story of bodies that would never have left their islands and together shape a parade of exiles.
Soa Ratsifandrihana is a Franco-Malagasy dancer and choreographer based in Brussels. After studying at the CNSMD in Paris, Soa worked with James Thierrée, Salia Sanou and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. In 2021, she presented her first solo, g r oo v e in Brussels. The show has been performed more than 60 times and continues to tour in Europe, Canada, Asia and soon in Madagascar. In spring 2024, Soa presented a diptych comprising a radio creation, Rouge cratère, and the performance Fampitaha, fampita, fampitàna. Following on from her first solo, she explores the possible intersections between different media, from radio storytelling to choreographic and musical composition. Her practice reminds us that our bodies, like our words, are the bearers of stories which, however we choose to communicate them, must be told. Soa is artist-in-residence at the Kaaitheater in Belgium.
Venue
Stoa, Turunlinnantie 1, 00900
Time
15.11.2025 20.00
16.11.2025 17.00
Soup Talk 16.11. at 11.00
@Eskus
Tickets
17 € / 33 €
Duration: 1h 30min
Language: French, Malagasy and Haitian Creole, English subtitles
Artistic direction: Soa Ratsifandrihana
Choreography and interpretation: Audrey Merilus, Stanley Ollivier, Soa Ratsifandrihana
Footwork phrase: Raza
Original music and interpretation: Joël Rabesolo
Dramaturgy: Lily Brieu Nguyen
Artistic collaboration: Jérémie Polin Razanaparany aka Raza, Amelia Ewu,
Thi Mai Nguyen
Light design: Marie-Christine Soma
Costumes: Harilay Rabenjamina
Costume assistance: l’Atelier Costumes du Théâtre Varia – Fabienne Damiean, Baptiste Alexandre, Marie-Céline Debande
Sound design: Chloé Despax, Guilhem Angot
Insight on questions of transmission and identity: Prisca Ratovonasy
Texts: Sékou Sémega
Outside eye: Maria Dogahe
Tour manager: Thomas Roulleau-Gallais
Lighting manager: Diane Guérin, Julien Rauche (alternating)
Sound manager: Guilhem Angot, Paul Boulier, Jean-Louis Walfart (alternating)
Development, distribution, production: ama brussels – Babacar Ba, Clara Schmitt, Emi Parot, France Morin
Delegated production: ama brussels, Théâtre Varia
In collaboration with: Météores
Co-production: Kaaitheater, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Théâtre Varia, Charleroi danse, MC93 — Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis, ICI – Centre Chorégraphique National Montpellier Occitanie / Direction Christian Rizzo, Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans-direction Maud Le Pladec, Le Gymnase-CDCN Roubaix, La Place de la Danse-CDCN Toulouse / Occitanie, Fonds Yavarhoussen, Tanz im August / HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Fonds Transfabrik – fonds franco-allemand pour le spectacle vivant, La Coop asbl, Shelter Prod., A-CDCN (Les Hivernales – CDCN d’Avignon, La Manufacture – CDCN Nouvelle-Aquitaine Bordeaux · La Rochelle, L’échangeur – CDCN Hauts-de-France, Le Dancing CDCN Dijon Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Chorège CDCN Falaise Normandie, Le Pacifique – CDCN Grenoble – Auvergne – Rhône- Alpes, Touka Danses – CDCN Guyane, Atelier de Paris / CDCN, Le Gymnase CDCN Roubaix – Hauts- de-France, POLE-SUD CDCN / Strasbourg, La Place de la Danse – CDCN Toulouse / Occitanie, La Maison Danse CDCN Uzès Gard Occitanie, La briqueterie CDCN du Val-de-Marne).
Residencies: ICI – CCN Montpellier Occitanie, La Bellone – Maison du Spectacle, Gemeenschapscentrum De Kriekelaar, Université d’Antananarivo, KAAP, Le Gymnase-CDCN Roubaix, Théâtre Varia, CCN d’Orléans, Radio Grenouille.
With the support of: Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels and Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles – Direction de la danse, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, taxshelter.be, ING et tax shelter du gouvernement fédéral belge.
Thanks to: Julie Iarisoa, Makwa Joma, Arikaomisa Randria, Naivo, Maria Dogahe, Jonathan, Do sy Bodo, Rado
Fampitaha, fampita, fampitàna premiered at Kunstenfestivaldesarts Brussels in May 2024.
Photo: Harilay Rabenjamina
Visit in collaboration: Stoa
Visit supported by: The Government of Flanders, WBI Wallonie Bruxelles international, Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux