Comunicato Stampa: BIGGER - Sofiane Chalal

Compatibilità

Salva(0)

On stage, an unconventional body challenges the codes of dance and the laws of physics.

Interprétation, conception et chorégraphie Sofiane Chalal
Production Cie Chaabane
Production déléguée Manège Maubeuge

SYNOPSIS

Durée 35min

On stage, an unconventional body challenges the codes of dance and the laws of physics.
Dancer and choreographer Sofiane Chalal states it without hesitation :
“People meet me twice — as if my body takes up all the space, even my own.”
This almost schizophrenic duality between his life on stage and his everyday life lies at the heart of this performance, drawn from his first solo work, Ma part d’ombre .
Almost a rite of passage, the piece addresses deeply personal — and therefore universal — themes : the body as both ally and adversary, and the paradox — at times empowering, at times painful — between how we perceive ourselves and how others see us.
Sofiane Chalal approaches these questions with great sensitivity and a distinctive physical language combining the power of hip hop with the fragility of mime. Equally at ease in battles and on theatre stages, he overturns expectations and defies categorization. In this work, he lays himself bare, exploring in his singular and intuitive way the position of the artist and the transformative power of the stage.

MA PART D’OMBRE / BIGGER

Created in 2022, Ma part d’ombre is Sofiane Chalal’s first solo. The piece quickly gained significant recognition, with over 150 performances in France and across Europe — notably in Belgium and Switzerland — and continues to tour.
This foundational solo established a choreographic writing in which the body becomes a space of struggle, resistance, and self-affirmation, shaped by questions of gaze, norms, and identity.
In 2026, at the invitation of Chaillot – Théâtre national de la Danse as part of Chaillot Olympique, Sofiane Chalal was invited to present Ma part d’ombre . Rather than remounting the original piece, he conceived a new short form of approximately 30 minutes, designed for an audience seated in the round (360°) within a non-theatrical space.
This proximity became a catalyst.
The shift in context revealed another way of being on stage : more direct, more exposed. Movement condensed, the writing tightened, and the focus shifted toward intensity and presence.
BIGGER extends the core questions of Ma part d’ombre while radicalizing them. The title does not suggest spectacular amplification, but rather an inner expansion : fully claiming one’s space, occupying it unapologetically.
A visible, self-affirmed body that dances as an act of resistance and freedom.