Wednesday, February 27 to Friday, March 01, 2013 at 8:30pm Centre National de la Danse - Pantin (Paris) A creation co-signed by Régine Chopinot and Umuissi Hnamano
A Festival d'Avignon coproduction, Centre National de la Danse - Pantin, Centre Culturel Tjibaou - Nouméa (...)
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There are twelve of us on the set. 11 Wetr artists and me. Men and women of all ages, from "old hands" like me to 20-year-olds. Since childhood, all Wetr members have learned to dance, sing and accompany each other on small plant-based percussion instruments, cushions of woven coconut leaves and large, deep-sounding bamboos. Traditionally, it's the elders who sing and the youngsters who dance. For our Very Wetr! creation, co-written by Umune Hnamano and myself, I asked them to change their habits. They are ready for these changes and approach them with openness and calm. Their dances are always accompanied and punctuated by foot strikes on the floor, amplifying a feeling of strength and precision. Their physical commitment is both skilful and generous, freely and dynamically mobilizing all the body's articulations. Each look is written in multiple directions, complementing the movements... (...)
Régine Chopinot

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(...) What makes a dance traditional compared to other dance forms is its sacredness. We don't dance just anything, just anyhow. When we set out to dance, whether at home or at an outdoor event, we make the appropriate gestures to ask for the spirit's blessing to accompany us. The expression of the dance, what the audience sees, is the fruit of a whole ritual preparation. For us, the dance begins long before we appear on stage, here or elsewhere. The late, great chief Paul Sihaze always told us, when we were preparing to leave to perform far from home, as in America, that we were like the kite, and that we must never forget the link that binds us to our land and our roots. (...)
Umuissi Hnamano

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"(...) On the stage, a skilfully choreographed polyphonic score unfolds, far beyond appearances; a body gesture stripped of all its ornaments and other folklores, whether Kanak or Western; a journey into bareness, a soothed introspection of rite and sacred; a joyful and free dance, a nomadism of spirits, a wandering of bodies(...)"Marie-José Sirach,
L'Humanité

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"(...) We are charmed. (...) At the end, a new impetus: Joseph Hnamano joins the group. He rhythmically bangs the bamboo on the floor. They all sing along. And it resonates and shakes. And the young men dance, dance, dance. Telluriques... (...)"Emmanuelle Bouchez,
Télérama