Latifa Laâbissi, Loredreamsong, 2010, photo: Nadia Lauro
Latifa Laâbissi
Loredreamsong

Latifa Laâbissi (*1964, France) began studying contemporary dance in France and completed her studies at the Merce Cunningham Studio in New York. She has been working as a dancer and choreographer since 1990. She collaborates with other performers in many of her pieces, including the "L’âme et le corps" duo and "To Play" (1998) in collaboration with Yves-Noël Genod, "Phasmes" (2001), "I Love Like Animals" (2002), "Love" (2004) together with Loïc Touzé, "Habiter" (2005), "Distraction" (2006) in collaboration with Isabelle Launay and Laurent Pichaud, the solo "Self Portrait Camouflage" (2006) and a piece for four performers "Histoire par celui qui la raconte" (2008). "Consul et Meshie" (2018) was produced together with Antonia Baehr aka Werner Hirsch – a collaboration that expanded into 2019, when they contributed to Pauline Boudry / Renate Lorenz' "Moving Backwards", and 2021 for their 3-part programme "Speak White, Bling Blings, Qui Sommes-nous?". Laâbissi's dance pieces often feature contortions of the body and grimaces, thus harking back to such artists as the radical dancer Valeska Gert. Her interest in teaching has inspired her to stage her work in various settings, such as universities, art schools and centres of choreography.

artist's website: figureproject.com

Two ghosts begin singing karaoke, but the accompanying music is missing. This is the start of a truly frightening set of events: a one-hour live performance that recalls a minstrel show, a popular American entertainment format in the mid-19th century. The two white ghosts become two completely black figures with big black wigs, faces painted pitch-black and deep red mouths. In several short acts, the two figures compound racist jokes, pop music fragments, twisted fairy tales, prejudice poems, propaganda speeches and preposterous gestures – all in at least four different languages – and a dance using a whole arsenal of weapons, in which the audience literally becomes a target. In their costumes, the performers Latifa Laâbissi and Sophiatou Kossoko enact a variety of themes, holding up a mirror to the audience while entertaining them at the same time. The title Loredreamsong refers to ‘lore’, as in folklore, and Laâbissi states that, for her, “the notion of lore is that one can belong through what is shared.” In other words, “this creates possibilities of mixing which go quite far beyond certain kinds of identification or identificatory fixation.” The performance ends when the same haunting ghosts recite a text by the poet and singer Lydia Lunch.

Courtesy Latifa Laâbissi

Document media
Video, colour, sound, 60:00 min

Issue date
2010

Relations
Antonia Baehr
Pauline Boudry / Renate Lorenz


Tags
dance/choreography, in/visibility, language, masquerade, music, racism, stereotypes

A
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B
Antonia Baehr
Maja Bajević
Anne Bean
Anat Ben-David
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Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz
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Marijs Boulogne
Tania Bruguera
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Maris Bustamante
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Cabello / Carceller
Shirley Cameron/ Monica Ross/ Evelyn Silver
Graciela Carnevale
Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
Ève Gabriel Chabanon
Helen Chadwick
Chicks on Speed
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Paul Clarke
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Colette
Cooltūristės
Corpus Deleicti
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Laura Cottingham
Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen
D
Katrina Daschner
Vlasta Delimar
Carola Dertnig
Teresa María Díaz Nerio
Disband
Ines Doujak
Orshi Drozdik
Yingmei Duan
Kirsten Dufour
Fabienne Dumont
E
Silvia Eiblmayr
Diamela Eltit
Rose English
VALIE EXPORT
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F.F.F.F.
Factory of Found Clothes
Esther Ferrer
Les filles Föllen
Rose Finn-Kelcey
Angelika Fojtuch
Simone Forti
Coco Fusco
G
(e.) Twin Gabriel
Regina José Galindo
Anna Bella Geiger
Rimma Gerlovina and Valeriy Gerlovin
Patrycja German
Ghazel
Kate Gilmore
Trine Mee Sook Gleerup
H
Mona Hatoum
Lynn Hershman
High Heel Sisters
María Teresa Hincapié
Nan Hoover
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Icelandic Love Corporation - Gjörningaklúbburinn
Sanja Iveković
J
Elżbieta Jabłońska
Françoise Janicot
Joan Jonas
Anne Jud
Birgit Jürgenssen
Kirsten Justesen
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Kanonklubben
Line Skywalker Karlström
Tina Keane
Klonaris / Thomadaki
Bettina Knaup & Beatrice Ellen Stammer
Jakob Lena Knebl
Verica Kovacevska
Elena Kovylina
Katarzyna Kozyra
Christina Kubisch
Kvinder på Værtshus (Women down the pub)
Verena Kyselka
L
Nicola L
Latifa Laâbissi
Leslie Labowitz
Leslie Labowitz & Suzanne Lacy
Suzanne Lacy
Katalin Ladik
Sigalit Landau
Klara Lidén
Kalup Linzy
Natalia LL
Léa Lublin
M
Jumana Manna
Manon
MaraM
María Evelia Marmolejo
Muda Mathis
Dóra Maurer
Mónica Mayer
Ana Mendieta
Marta Minujín
Fina Miralles
Molly and me
Linda Montano
Charlotte Moorman
Teresa Murak
Sands Murray-Wassink
MwangiHutter
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Narcissister
Rabbya Naseer & Hurmat Ul Ain
Senga Nengudi
Les Nyakes
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Lorraine O'Grady
Itziar Okariz
Yoko Ono
ORLAN
Tanja Ostojić
Paulina Ołowska & Lucy McKenzie
Funda Özgünaydin
Hannah O’Shea
P
Gina Pane
Letícia Parente
Ewa Partum
Bojana Pejić
Jillian Peña
Performance Saga
Sanja Iveković & Performance Saga
Friederike Pezold
Howardena Pindell
Adrian Piper
Mariuccia Pisani
Polvo de Gallina Negra
Pussy Riot
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Yvonne Rainer
Eglė Rakauskaitė
Laurence Rassel
Chris Regn
Jytte Rex
Àngels Ribé
La Ribot
Angelika Richter
Jesusa Rodríguez / Liliana Felipe
Ulrike Rosenbach
Martha Rosler
Boryana Rossa
María Ruido
S
Raeda Saadeh
Estíbaliz Sábada
Andrea Saemann
Zorka Ságlová
Les Salonnières and Dr. Soley
Christine Schlegel
Cornelia Schleime
Carolee Schneemann
Rebecca Schneider
Schwarze Schokolade
Stefanie Seibold
Stefanie Seibold & Teresa María Díaz Nerio
Miriam Sharon
Bonnie Ora Sherk
Barbara T. Smith
Cornelia Sollfrank
Antonieta Sosa
Spiderwoman Theater
Annie M. Sprinkle
Sandra Sterle
Gabriele Stötzer
Annika Ström
Melati Suryodarmo
Anna Szwajgier/ Zorka Wollny
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Jinoos Taghizadeh
Milica Tomić
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Teresa Tyszkiewicz
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Mierle Laderman Ukeles
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Valie Export Society
Cecilia Vicuña
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The Waitresses
Faith Wilding
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Julita Wójcik
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Nil Yalter
Yeni & Nan