Ballet Preljocaj brings French premiere to Albania

TIRANA, Oct. 16 – “What I call forgetfulness,” a ballet premiere by France-based Albanian choreographer Angelin Preljocaj is coming to Albania this weekend one month after making its premiere in France. The ballet sponsored by the French embassy in Albania will feature six ballet dancers and an actor. It is kind of new genre between theatre and ballet art and the brutality of life which maestro Preljocaj’s troupe will perform at the Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Tirana on Friday Oct. 19 and Saturday Oct. 20
In a video conference held on the introduction of the premiere, Anglin Preljocaj who was unable to come to Albania said he was happy his troupe was performing in the land of his predecessors. “I remain deeply connected to Albania in every piece I stage,” said Preljocaj.
Famous choreographer Angelin Preljocaj was inspired by Laurent Mauvignier’s What I call forgetfulness (Ce que j’appelle oubli), a novel which tells the story of a man who is beaten to death for drinking a beer in a supermarket.
Violence and the brilliance of this text are brought to life by the choreographer who brings us a true encounter between literature and dance. Indeed, Lawrence Mauvignier’s sentences are transposed into movements. This delivers a work with alternating touching moments and violent moments.
“I discovered Ce que j’appelle oubli by Laurent Mauvignier when it was published by ʤitions de Minuit. The very form of the text fascinated me immediately. It consists of just one sentence, a long interminable sentence which links the interaction of bodies and the literary structure in a radical way. This materialisation of the flesh makes the text very sensual. It is inhabited corporally with very diverse textures: the aggressive, lively, violent body and the more lascivious, sensual, unwholesome, amorous bodyŢ says Preljocaj.
However the body is also a political one with Mauvignier. Several questions are asked and there is a profound reflection on exclusion, being on the margins, society and consumerism – all taking place in the silent dialogue between the bodies.
“I thought that the dance could take possession of the subject by putting the story into perspective and deploying a choreographic writing which would be specific to it. And obviously it will be necessary to make this text heard: it is extremely rough, uncompromising, in its inexorability, in its beauty and in its emotion.”
Since founding Ballet Preljocaj in 1985, Angelin Preljocaj has created 45 choreographic works, ranging from solos to larger formations. The company performs internationally and at home in France where it is recognized as one of the country’s leading dance companies.
Born in Paris just five days after his parents escaped from communist Albania, he felt French while at school and Albanian when at home with his parents and their tight-knit community of Albanian friends,” The Guardian writes about him. In 1992, Preljocaj, now an internationally famous representative of the Albanian diaspora, was invited back to the newly democratised country, and taken by presidential helicopter to his parents’ mountain village. His choreographic work is steeped in his writing of the history of classical ballet, but is resolutely contemporary. He is considered one of the most important choreographers of dance today. He joined the repertoire of the Ballet de l’Op곡 national de Paris in the early 1990s and has headed the company since 1985. In 1995, he received the Prix Benois de la Danse as choreographer. Preljocaj, subsequently renamed Ballet Preljocaj, has been in residence at the Black Hall of Aix-en-Provence since 1996.