12 rue de Domrémy
75013 Paris
France
- Arts
Berdahi is a dance company based in Paris, France ("association loi 1901") founded in 2017. Eleni Karachontziti, senior lecturer in education sciences in INSPE Normandie Rouen-Le Havre, is Berdahi's president. Sandra Jabalera-Llorca, photographer, is the vice-president and Andreas Goudelis, physics researcher in Clermont-Ferrand University, is the treasurer. Currently Berdahi employs up to 10 artists and educators per year, using fixed-term contracts ("intermittents du spectacle") : these can be dancers, actors, musicians, movement educators, technicians, costume designers. For 2022, Berdahi had budgetary resources at a level of 22700 €, coming from performance sells, regular classes and workshops. In previous years, Berdahi has received co-production funds from institutions such as Birmingham University, Paris-Saclay University, Sorbonne University, as well as artistic mobility grants from European programmes such as "Be Mobile Create Together" and "i-Portunus", managed by the Goethe Institute and the French Institute among others.
The purpose of the association is the creation, implementation and promotion of artistic and cultural projects, in particular live performances and workshops, which mainly evolve around the human body and the exploration of its intercultural and interdisciplinary potentials.
Berdahi's projects evolve around the performing body and its intercultural and interdisciplinary connections. Berdahi's work aims to be accessible to every audience, with a focus on under-represented, minority and refugee groups. Berdahi often presents work outdoors, away from the theatre building, in order to reach audiences that are not necessarily in touch with the performing arts. Using dance, music and text, often implementing a multitude of languages, Berdahi transmits simple yet well researched messages. Creating works in relation to science, archive research and literature, Berdahi ventures into collaborations beyond the French borders and has presented its work in England, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and Turkey. The company works equally with professional performers or complete beginners. Choreographer Mairi Pardalaki often conducts workshops with young refugees from various backgrounds in France and the Paris suburbs. More specifically, Berdahi has created: “Piccole Marquisakis” is a coming-of-age dance-theatre piece about the tragicomic encounter of three young girls coming from France, Italy and Greece. The Neutrino Passoire” is an arts & science performance initiated with physicist Dr. Kostas Nikolopoulos of the University of Birmingham. Merging dance and particle physics, the performance narrates in a simple way the story of the neutrino particle, thus reaching non-scientific audiences. For his work on "The Neutrino Passoire", Kostas Nikolopoulos was awarded the 2020 Public Engagement with Research Award from the European Research Council. "The Strange Love” is a performance created alongside cellist Gaspar Claus, narrating the love story of a horse and a poplar tree. A dance-theater play for a public of all ages, based on the homonymous book by Christos Boulotis, “The Strange Love” uses text, dance and a musical theme of the 15th century called “Folia” to narrate how two beings from completely different worlds deeply understand each other. "i wake up" is a short feminist film made in Istanbul, produced by the "Be Mobile Create Together" residency. Poetry meets performance, coming together on screen through images in stop-motion. "Bam! Charge" is a short arts & science performance co-created and performed with a group of physicists, talking about plasma, the 4th state of matter. "Bam! Charge" uses artificial intelligence captors to create its original music score. It is co-produced with Sorbonne University. "Kolye de Perles" is Berdahi's upcoming project for 2023. It is a bilingual Greek-Turkish performance inspired by 19th century archives. It has received mobility funding from the "i-Portunus" European grant. Berdahi's second upcoming project for 2023 is co-produced by Paris 8 University and includes the creation of a performance with a young group of refugee students at Raymond Poincaré college in La Courneuve.
Berdahi can contribute to the Anna Lindh network in France by fostering connections about intercultural dialogue among Anna Lindh Foundation members and its own project partners. It can promote the work of the Anna Lindh Foundation and spread awareness about its missions among its own companions in the French territory, which can lead to new projects and innovative actions.
The Mediterranean region being the focus of both Berdahi company and ALF, common ways can be found together to amplify the young and under-represented voices of these territories. With an emerging cross-border action cultivating collaborations from different sides of the Mediterranean sea, Berdahi wishes to create long-lasting ties with the Anna Lindh Foundation and imagine new projects with ALF members in the future.