g r oo v e

Soa Ratsifandrihana

Soa Ratsifandrihana: "g r oo v e" (2026). Photo by Maria Baranova, Courtesy New York Live Arts
Soa Ratsifandrihana: "g r oo v e" (2026). Photo by Maria Baranova, Courtesy New York Live Arts

March 11 & 12, 7:30pm
Co-presented with Dance Reflections
by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival

Choreographer/Performer: Soa Ratsifandrihana

Music:
Sylvain Darrifourcq
Alban Murenzi

Costume Designer: Coco Petitpierre
Costume Assistant: Anne Tesson
Lighting Designer: Marie-Christine Soma

Lighting Management (alternating):
Suzanna Bauer
Diane Guérin
Julien Rauche

Sound Management (alternating):
Guilhem Angot
Jean-Louis Waflart
Paul Boulier

Archival & External Perspective: Valérianne Poidevin
Outside Eye: Thi-Mai Nguyen

Production, Touring, Administration Alma Office (As of January 2026): Anne-Lise Gobin & Camille Queval 

Bios

Soa Ratsifandrihana (Choreographer/Performer), born in 1994, trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. She has worked with artists such as James Thiérrée, Salia Sanou, and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, notably interpreting the iconic Violin Phase solo in Fase, a performance highlighted by The New York Times as one of the best dances of 2019. In 2021, Soa created her first solo, g r oo v e, which has toured internationally with 70+ performances. The work explores groove, improvisation, and diasporic influences, combining movement and sound. Her group piece, Fampitaha, fampita, fampitàna (2024), investigates the relationship between choreography, narrative, and music through a collective lens. Her work explores cultural complexity, collective processes, and the poetic qualities of movement.

 

Sylvain Darrifourcq (Percussionist, Multi-instrumentalist, Improviser & Composer), was born in 1979 and trained as a classical percussionist. He opts late for the drums, discovers rock, jazz and improvised music. A recognized figure of this generation of improvisers curious about borders, he is a musician in great demand. He has collaborated with many French, European and American personalities such as Joëlle Léandre, Joachim Kühn, Tony Malaby, Michel Portal, Louis Sclavis, Marc Ducret, Andrea Parkins, Akosh S, Kit Downes… In 2009, he obtained a “Victoire du Jazz” with the Emile Parisien Quartet, of which he was the drummer for more than 10 years. Over the course of human and musical encounters, his attraction to current forms of creation becomes clearer and pushes him to create his own festival in the company of singer / double bass player Elise Dabrowski: the DA festival. Passionate about questions of temporality, space and rupture in music, he now creates a very personal language, built around the notions of “poly-speed”, “physical quality” and the mechanization of the sound gesture. Thus are born his own projects MILESDAVISQUINTET!, IN LOVE WITH and TENDIMITE. His research leads him to question the plastic dimension of his productions. In 2019, together with Nicolas Canot, he gave birth to the FIXIN ecosystem – a set of projects ranging from sound installation to performance – featuring digitally controlled motors in a minimalist and immersive light scenography. He also collaborates with composers Karl Naegelen, Guillaume Hermen; the visual artist Zimoun; the choreographers Soa Ratsifandrihana, Liz Santoro and the author Françoise Dô. Curious about the psychoacoustic consequences of his work, he has now turned to science, creating hybrid projects with music cognition researchers Clément Canonne (IRCAM, CNRS) and Thomas Wolff (European Central University). In 2023, he created HECTOR Editions with the aim of publishing books with scientific content and knowledge sharing, and published the book 20,000 WORDS co-written with Antoine Le Bousse.

 

Alban Murenzi (Producer/Guitarist) goes by his stage name: Halibab Matador. A blaze that comes from his childhood when he rapped with Fabien Leclercq («Le Motel»). He is also producer and guitarist of the Belgian band YellowStraps, a young trio from Braine-l’Alleud formed around the Murenzi brothers. YellowStraps proposes a vaporous music on the borders of lounge and trip-hop. Through his musical journey, Alban meets a nice bunch of artists such as Tessa, Le Motel, Halehan, Roméo Elvis, Primero… Let yourself be carried away by this tsunami of chillitude.

 

Coco Petitpierre (Costume Desginer) is a visual artist, costume designer and director. Since the early 2000s, she has collaborated with numerous choreographers and directors on more than one hundred creations as a costume designer, notably, Zerep company, Phillipe Quesne, Olivier Martin-Salvan, Alban Richard, Odile Duboc, Xavier Le Roy… Under the name Clédat & Petitpierre, she develops multifaceted work together with Yvan Clédat (shows, performances, sculpture…) in which the bodies of the two artists are regularly brought into play. The works of Clédat & Petitpierre have been presented for twenty years in art centres, museums, festivals and theatres, in France and around fifteen other countries.

 

Marie-Christine Soma (Lighting Designer), after studying phisophy and classical literature, turned towards the lighting profession, thanks to a meeting with Henri Alekan. Over the years, she has created lighting for Marie Vayssière, François Rancillac, Alain Milianti, Jean-Paul Delore, Michel Cerda, Éric Vigner, Arthur Nauzyciel, Catherine Diverrès, Marie- Louise Bischofberger, Jean-Claude Gallotta, Jacques Vincey, Frédéric Fisbach, Niels Arestrup, Éléonore Weber, Alain Ollivier, Laurent Gutmann, Daniel Larrieu, Alain Béhar, Jérôme Deschamps, Salia Sanou… In 2001, she began collaborating with Daniel Jeanneteau. From 2008, they have worked together on a number of theatre productions: L’Affaire de la rue de Lourcine, Feux, Ciseaux, papier, and Trafic. In 2010, she adapted and directed Les Vagues at Vitry then at La Colline where she was associate artist, working with Thomas Ostermeier (Les Revenants, Bella Figura, La Mouette). In recent years, she has created the lighting for Innocence (Comédie Française), Andreas and Trilogie du Revoir (Avignon Festival), La Règle du jeu (Comédie Française), Der Zwerg (Opéra de Lille), and staged La Pomme dans le noir (Maison de la Culture de Bobigny). Since 2016, she is Associate Professor of Performing Arts at the University of Paris10-Nanterre.

Founded in 2020, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels is guided by the values of creation, transmission, and education. Its mission is to support artists and institutions in sharing choreographic heritage while encouraging new productions. Since its launch, Dance Reflections has accompanied numerous companies in their creations as well as multiple institutions in the presentation of their works on the international stage. Since 2022, the program is reinforced each year by major events , such as the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival. In addition to supporting the creation and promotion of choreographic works, Dance Reflections places increasing importance on issues of transmission and education. With its partners, the program organizes residencies for professional dancers as well as actions to raise awareness of choreographic culture open to all. Its network, now consisting of 60 partners from 16 different countries, continues to grow with each project.

Funding

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.

Co-production: Atelier 210, Charleroi danse, MARS – Mons Arts de la Scène, La Place de la Danse – CDCN Toulouse Occitanie, workspacebrussels, T2G – Théâtre de Gennevilliers, Centre Dramatique National, La Soufflerie – Rezé

With the support of: the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Wallonie-Bruxelles International

Additional support from: CNDC – Angers, La Place de la Danse – CDCN Toulouse Occitanie, Charleroi danse, Centre National de la Danse, Point Culture, PARC Performing Arts Research Centre, GC De Kriekelaar, Kaaitheater, Iles asbl, Wallonie-Bruxelles International

 

Support for New York Live Arts is provided by the Alex Katz Foundation, Alice Lawrence Foundation, Albertine Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Booth Ferris Foundation, Dance/NYC, Ed Bradley Family Foundation, Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Ford Foundation, Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, Lambent Foundation, Marta Heflin Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Muriel Pollia Foundation, National Performance Network, New England Foundation for the Arts, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, San Francisco Foundation, Scherman Foundation, Simons Foundation, Studio Institute, The Poss Family Foundation, The Semel Charitable Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Tides Foundation, and Wege Foundation. 

Public support for New York Live Arts is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council with special thanks to Manhattan Borough President Hoylman-Sigal and City Council District #3 member Erik Bottcher, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. Dance/NYC’s New York City Dance Rehearsal Space Subsidy Program that supports Live Arts subsidizing our studio spaces, is made possible by the Mellon Foundation.

Corporate support for New York Live Arts is provided by Google and Tito’s Handmade Vodka.

Coming up at Live Arts: Fresh Tracks!

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Support for New York Live Arts is provided by the Albertine Foundation, Alice Lawrence Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Dance/NYC, Ed Bradley Family Foundation, Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Ford Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, Lambent Foundation, Marta Heflin Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Muriel Pollia Foundation, National Performance Network, The Poss Family Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, Scherman Foundation, The Semel Charitable Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Simons Foundation, Studio Institute, and Wolf Foundation.

Corporate support for New York Live Arts is provided by Tito’s Handmade Vodka.

New York Live Arts is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, with special thanks to Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and City Councilmember Carl Wilson. New York Live Arts’ programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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