Amman’s contemporary dance festival will put a spring in your step

Jordan

Published: 2018-04-10 14:28

Last Updated: 2024-03-26 13:35


The National Center for Culture and Arts (NCCA) launches the 10th edition of ACDF.
The National Center for Culture and Arts (NCCA) launches the 10th edition of ACDF.

Do you scroll through Facebook events in search of activities to do during the weekend? Are you left yearning for something more after checking out the films playing in cinemas? Are you looking for live performances for which you won’t have to pay an arm and a leg? Well, look no further. In the period April 13-19, you will be able to experience four contemporary performances that will leave you awestruck. 

The National Center for Culture and Arts (NCCA) is launching its 10th edition of the ACDF. If the acronym ACDF does not ring a bell right away, here is a hint. A dance festival that takes place in Amman. Four dance nights will be presented in the span of one week, showcasing international contemporary performances. 

The ACDF falls within the Masahat Dance Network, a regional network which in addition to Jordan’s National Center for Culture and Arts is joined by theatres in Lebanon, Palestine and Syria.  It exposes audiences to world-renowned artists and companies which use various techniques of contemporary dance.

The festival kicks off on Friday 13, with the Italian “Opus Ballet,” which will present a European evening choreographed by a number of artists. The first piece is Bolero, which, according to its creators, describes a contemporary identity that no longer has labels, allowing for the transition between strength and elegance.

The second performance will be delivered on Sunday by Dyptik, a French dance company, which will present “Dans L’Engrenage”, or “In the Gear”, a piece performed by seven dancers that blends hip hop and contemporary styles. The performance will also be headed to Jerusalem, Ramallah and Bethlehem after bringing joy to Amman audiences. Here is the trailer of the show

Opus Ballet and Dyptik will also provide workshops for intermediate and advanced dancers in Jordan on 12, 14 April resepectively, for which you can sign up here

The following day the penultimate performance, titled “Vibration”, will feature two dancers, Hungarian Rita Gobi and Japanese Ryuji Yamaguchi. It is a form of physical poetry of the live body that explores attraction and repulsion, and irregular rhythm. Burning in the colors of red and orange, and trapped within a circular magnetic field, two figures vibrate in tension until the heart tears apart. You can check out a one minute preview here 

 

All of the above shows are scheduled at the Royal Cultural Center (RCC), with the final show taking place on Thursday, 19, at the NCCA. The finale will be a solo performance by Annamaria Ajmone from Italy.

According to Ajmone, “Trigger” is not a site-specific action, but a time-specific one: it arrives, gets organised and finally evaporates. The dance is divided into two parts and is accompanied by a mixtape featuring South American dance music, field recording repertoires, soft psychedelia and dub. The use of a tape with two sides, from daytime to nighttime, is conceptually linked to the two sides of the performance. If you want to read more about her solo act, read her interview and watch a snippet 



All the acts start at 8 p.m. but audiences are advised to head out to the venue a bit earlier in order to secure front seats. Tickets cost only JD 7, so head to sajilni.com to order them online or check out which places sell them around Amman on the festival’s festival’s event page. Below is the summary of the program

Fri, 13 April, 8:00 PM at the RCC
Bolero & Serata Europea | Opus Ballet | Italy

Sun, 15 April, 8:00 PM at the RCC
Dans L’Engrenage | Dyptik | France

Mon, 16 April, 8:00 PM at the RCC
Vibration | Rita Gobi & Ryuji Yamaguchi | Hungary & Japan

Thu, 19 April, 8:00 PM at the NCCA
Trigger | Annamaria Ajmone | Italy