At the Théâtre du Pommier in Neuchâtel on November 15 and 16 then at the THL in Sierre on November 29 and 30, Genevan dancer and actor Kiyan Khoshoie pays tribute to his childhood loves of pop and boy bands. His “Wannabe” is jubilant.
It was nine years old and probably a large wall mirror. In the family living room, the television was showing MTV clips. It was a revelation. Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, Beyoncé, Alliage, Justin Timberlake… the list goes on. So many pop artists for whom a song is also a choreography.
He wants to be there too. Becoming a star, singing, dancing, literally swimming in the apparent bliss of pop stardom. Today, finally, Kiyan Khoshoie is fulfilling his childhood dream. Sing and dance to this music while rediscovering the wonder of the first time.
Except that in the meantime, the child became a Genevan dancer, choreographer and actor, went through dance schools, joined prestigious European ballet corps and finally carved out a fine reputation with solo or duo shows that mix dance and theater. “Big gap” told the story of the world of classical dance with a lot of humor and a lot of movements. “Kick Ball Change”, created with his accomplice Charlotte Dumartheray, was inspired by acrobatic rock’n’roll competitions. With such a track record, for sure, his latest creation “Wannabe” wasn’t just going to be little Kiyan grown up imitating his favorite bands while singing in yogurt.
A tour de force
“Wannabe” is a tour de force. That of singing live while dancing, at a time when most of the stars of the stage practice playback, too out of breath as they are by the demands of their stage choreographies. That of finding a personal contemporary choreographic language while drawing on his memories of modern jazz, hip-hop, break, tecktonik, funk, etc. That of rediscovering this magical and spontaneous side of childhood while creating a show with fine dramaturgy, created with the judicious advice of these two seasoned actresses, Charlotte Dumartheray and Tiphanie Bovay-Klameth. Finally imagine, thanks to the composer Andrès Garcia, music that connects present and past like a ghost of childhood.
Both mischievous and jubilant, “Wannabe” floats back and forth between the glitter of pop and contemporary dance. In 2011, we discovered that a clip by Beyoncé shamelessly plagiarized the creation “Rosas danst Rosas” by Belgian artist Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. The choreographer reacted with a lawsuit – won – then, teasingly, made the instructions for her movements freely available on the internet, thus transforming her own work into a dance hit.
Since then, following in the footsteps of Kiyan Khoshoie, another local choreographer, Anna-Marija Adomaityte has been inspired by the choreographies of teenage girls for her show “Tik Tok-Ready Choreographies”. The boundaries between pop culture and noble performing arts are blurring and this is to the benefit of dance.
Thierry Sartoretti/ld
“Wannabe” by Kiyan Khoshoie, Théâtre du Pommier, Neuchâtel, November 15 and 16, 2024; TLH, Sierre (VS), November 29 and 30, 2024.
