Thread: Moroccan music? Gnawa, modern ballet

Hi folks,
I came across a work of Nacho Duato and the Companía Nacional de la Danza, I believe the work is from 2009. It's called "Gnawa" (meaning what?). It's modern dance or modern ballet or contemporary theatrical dance or however it's called (shoot me I can't keep those apart) and it's supposed to be to Moroccan? music?

Here is a list of the music used: Hassan Hakmoun, Adam Rudolph, Juan Arteche, Xavier Paxadino, Abou-Khalil (Rabi I guess), Velez, Kusur, Sarkissian (Setrak?).

It looks really interesting:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZdh6mnxU7Q&feature=related]YouTube - Gnawa by Nacho Duato -- Hubbard Street Dance Chicago[/ame]

Can you relate to this movement-language to this music? Do you like it?

Big yes to both questions.

Wow, nice dance!

What a coincidence -- I came across the name Gnawa for the first time last night, while I was trying to find out something about qarkabeb (Qarkabeb, Moroccan Castanets, 12").

About the Gnawa, see this:
[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnawa]Gnawa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

I've seen this performed live, twice, by Hubbard Street Dance. It's quite fabulous!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtggiQ57Bxw&feature=related]YouTube - gnawa ismgan[/ame]

Here is Gnawa dance...

I like very much the trancey-stuff. And I also like when modern dance ventures into archaic music and dance forms, because sometimes it's so overintellectualized.

I recently had a talk with a friend about the relationship of contemporary dance to oriental dance and flamenco, and my friend said contemporary dance was more universal, while I tried to uphold contemporary dance was as much linked to a modern commercial mass media Western society as maybe baladi would be linked to the Egyptian people - thruth being of course that the whole world is almost touched by the mass media and commercialized - well to a more or lesser extent. But not a small part of the world has been "taken" by the Egyptian people's dance So it's a to and fro movement!

I like the idea of an exchange. While the GP loves ethnic dance forms for rhythm, passion, being colourful or feeling some spirituality they might have lost, more intellectual art forms open for these influences. And vice versa artists of archaic or ethnic danceforms seek to broaden their movement vocabulary to make their artform more versatile and more fit for big stage.

Here's Eva Yerbabuena doing a modern flamenco show:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yNnj1wKUVM]YouTube - Flamenco en Red - Eva Yerbabuena ultimo espectaculo[/ame]