words yvonne teh

France’s Compagnie Etha Dam explore inner landscapes during their first venture to Hong Kong.

Aduna may be the name of a small Basque town but it is not the Compagnie Etha Dam’s focus of excitement. Rather, the Aduna in the title of their latest production, Aduna, Land of Adventure, refers to the West African Wolof word meaning both ‘world’ and ‘destiny’. If truth be told, Ibrahima Sissoko, choreographer and composer of the dance work doesn’t speak Wolof. Still, the apparently exotic word choice makes some cultural sense for, as Aurelien Franckel, Etha Dam’s administrative director, tells bc, most of this company’s dancers have African roots – hailing variously from Algeria, the Comoros, Mali and Senegal.

More to the point, the dance work’s title, apart from corresponding well with Sissoko’s sentiments, reflects “a metaphorical evocation, through the destiny of adventurers, of life emotions and experiences”. Aduna is the story of the discovery of an unknown land by a septet of adventurers. More conceptually, it is the seven individuals’ search for their own destiny, during which they are confronted by fear and thirst before discovering the joy of freedom. But, Franckel goes on to suggest, on an even more abstract level “the real intention is more metaphorical and gives a large space to the imagination of the audience.”

“Aduna, Land of Adventure has to be seen as a metaphorical evocation of the emotions experienced by adventurers embarked on a destiny and identity quest,” Franckel adds. “Therefore, the dancers have widened their corporal expressions; they have developed a body language stemming from different techniques and cultures; hip-hop, capoeira, African dance, acrobatics and contemporary dance influences. The audience has to expect an all-round creation.”

The choreography, he further notes, is complex and sophisticated, ranging from very dynamic to airy and poetical. It describes a diversity of dance expressions and artistic messages and underscores that, although Etha Dam’s urban dance style may be based on hip-hop or street-dance techniques, its artistic province actually goes beyond that through choreography and stage direction as well as original aesthetic research.

Established in 1998, Etha Dam comprises dancers who, Franckel indicates, having evolved together over the past decade, now know each other very well both in life and on stage. “Etha Dam is a play on the French expression état d’âme which means ‘frame of mind’,” he says. It expresses that all members of the dance company are on the same wavelength and share the same spirit based on simple human values and humility.

Thus, even while the dancers have a specific dance style, they have collectively “developed a deep complicity and an osmosis in the artistic creation process. This diversity and complementarity enables the company to propose inventive choreographies merging break-dance phases, pass-pass or top dance.”

Etha Dam’s works may come out of the vision of artistic director Ibrahima Sissoko, but they are also informed by his personal and professional knowledge of the dancers themselves. As an example, Franckel shares, Aduna, Land of Adventure “has been fed with the personal history and identity of each dancer of the company. Each dancer has added a part of his life in the creation and enriched it with his own dance style.”

When asked what ranks as the dance company’s greatest achievement, Franckel first points out that Etha Dam started in 1998 with nothing before stating that now it is a renowned company with four creations familiar to international audiences. “We really enjoyed playing a show in an open-air old amphitheatre in Sweden, at sunset, in front of 3,500 people,” he particularly remembers. “Another strong experience was to play in Haiti. We played in front of a very enthusiastic audience which swept into the square at the end of the presentation shouting, ‘Haiti, Haiti, Haiti!’

Experience has taught him that, “Audience reactions differ a lot from one country to another, even from one region to another. African and Caribbean audiences are very ‘hot’ and enthusiastic, Andean audiences are less demonstrative but very attentive. Scandinavians are very concentrated, Latin very reactive. In France, the audience is generally more enthusiastic outside the Paris area. Some audiences applaud after each sequence, others shout during some sequences, other stay silent and reserve [their appreciation for a] standing ovation at the end of the show.”

And what of audiences in Hong Kong? That is something they’ve yet to experience. Indeed, at the time of the interview, Etha Dam had not toured in any part of Asia. But ahead of their debut performance in Asia’s World City, Franckel says, “We imagine that the Hong Kong public is very disciplined, maybe not very demonstrative during the performance but very warm at the end of it. Anyway, we are eager to meet them and present the show there!”

Etha Dam will present Aduna, Land of Adventure on May 20 and 21 at the HK Cultural Centre’s Studio Theatre. Showtime for this Le French May dance programme is 8pm. Tickets are $250, $200 and $150 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.