Fampitaha, fampita, fampitàna
Fampitaha, fampita, fampitàna means comparison, transmission and rivalry in Malagasy. On the stage, four bodies challenge each other, choose each other and purge themselves of the (layers of) violence that constitute them. The second chapter of a diptych begun with her radio creation Rouge Cratère (Red Crater), choreographer Soa Ratsifandrihana searches for a vocabulary between bodies and history to understand what links them and what sets them apart. Soa has teamed up with guitarist Joël Rabesolo and performers Audrey Merilus and Stanley Ollivier to build a new alterity in which bodies emerge from their silence by offering themselves the possibility of language. FFF is presented as a rediscovered line of dialogue between the children of diasporas and their places of origin. A plural narrative in which the shattering of these experiences is as vibrant as their reappropriation.
Written out before us is the story of bodies that would never have left their islands, and which, together, are fashioning a parade against exile.
• Soa Ratsifandrihana is a dancer and choreographer. Trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, she has collaborated with artists such as Salia Sanou, and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. In 2021, she created her first solo, g r oo v e, which toured internationally. In 2024, she developed a diptych consisting of a radio creation, Rouge cratère, which won an award at the Paris Podcast Festival, and the stage piece Fampitaha, fampita, fampitàna. In July 2025, Soa premieres Quelle Aurore, a duet with musician and performer Bonnie Banane. The piece was commissioned by SACD France and the Festival d’Avignon. Soa’s work explores the authenticity of diasporic identities and spaces through a bodily language driven by groove and improvisation. Her choreography gives voice to multiple timelines, embracing hybridity and contradiction, joy and doubt, playfulness and seriousness. In 2025, she founded the company Kintana in Brussels. Soa was artist-in-residence at Kaaitheater from 2023 - 2025 and Charleroi danse from 2026 to 2029.
A performance by Soa Ratsifandrihana | Creation & performance Audrey Mérilus, Stanley Ollivier, Soa Ratsifandrihana. Alternately with Elsy Robert and Constant Bitihuse | Footwork phrase Raza | Music Joël Rabesolo | Dramaturgy Lily Brieu Nguyen | Artistic collaboration Jérémie Polin Razanaparany aka Raza, Amelia Ewu, Thi Mai Nguyen | Writing collaboration Sékou Séméga | Light design Marie-Christine Soma | Costumes Harilay Rabenjamina With the collaboration of Théâtre Varia’s costume workshop - Fabienne Damiean, Baptiste Alexandre, Marie-Céline Debande | Sound design Chloé Despax, Guilhem Angot | Perspectives on questions of transmission and identity Prisca Ratovonasy | Outside eye Maria Dogahe | Video Valérianne Poidevin and Antoine Chambre | Technical director Thomas Roulleau-Gallais | Light technician Diane Guérin, Julien Rauche (alternating) | Sound technician Guilhem Angot, Paul Boulier, Jean-Louis Waflart (alternating) | Production, touring, administration Alma Office (from january 2026) – Anne-Lise Gobin, Camille Queval | Touring production Kintana (Brussels), in collaboration with La cordiale
Production AMA Brussels – Babacar Ba, Clara Schmitt Emi Parot, France Morin Executive production at the creation in 2024 by AMA Brussels and Théâtre Varia in collaboration with Météores.
Coproduction Kaaitheater, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Théâtre Varia, Charleroi danse, MC93 — Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis, ICI – centre chorégraphique national Montpellier Occitanie / Direction Christian Rizzo , centre chorégraphique national d'Orléans-direction Maud Le Pladec, Le Gymnase-CDCN Roubaix, La Place de la Danse-CDCN Toulouse / Occitanie, Fonds Yavarhoussen, Tanz im August / HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Fonds Transfabrik - fonds franco-allemand pour le spectacle vivant, La Coop asbl, Shelter Prod. Coproduction A-CDCN (Les Hivernales - CDCN d’Avignon, La Manufacture - CDCN Nouvelle- Aquitaine Bordeaux · La Rochelle, L’échangeur – CDCN Hauts-de-France, Le Dancing CDCN Dijon Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Chorège CDCN Falaise Normandie, Le Pacifique - CDCN Grenoble - Auvergne - Rhône- Alpes, Touka Danses - CDCN Guyane, Atelier de Paris / CDCN, Le Gymnase CDCN Roubaix - Hauts-de-France, POLE-SUD CDCN / Strasbourg, La Place de la Danse - CDCN Toulouse / Occitanie, La Maison Danse CDCN Uzès Gard Occitanie, La briqueterie CDCN du Val- de-Marne).
Résidences ICI - CCN Montpellier Occitanie, La Bellone - Maison du spectacle, Gemeenschapscentrum De Kriekelaar, Université d’Antananarivo, KAAP, Le Gymnase-CDCN Roubaix, Théâtre Varia, CCN d’Orléans, Radio Grenouille.
With the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels.
With the support of Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles – Direction de la danse, Wallonie Bruxelles International, taxshelter.be, ING et tax shelter du gouvernement fédéral belge.
Thanks to Maria Dogahe, Jonathan, Do sy Bodo.
For Rado.
