After studying modern literature at the University of Reims, Nacera Belaza taught herself dance and founded her own company in 1989. She was awarded the title of chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Culture Ministry in January 2015. In her dance pieces, every element—light, space, time, the body—interact on the stage, developing their own special scenography. She created two new performances in 2014: Les Oiseaux and La Traversée. The Nacera Belaza company performs internationally, and is regularly hosted by French dance festivals such as Montpellier Danse, the Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales in Seine-Saint-Denis, the Avignon Festival, and the Lyon Dance Biennale. Her worked, hailed by the Syndicat de la Critique in 2008 and the SACD en 2017 (Choreography Award), has given her company international status.
From master classes to in situ performances, her desire to share and pass on her skills is manifest in her relationship with audiences and the places they come from. Constantly travelling back and forth, Nacera Belaza’s company is based in France, and she has created an artistic cooperative in Algeria where she organises training and awareness-raising activities in contemporary art and dance in Algeria.
Nacera Belaza
Nacera Belaza was born in Algeria and has lived in France since the age of five. Her choreographical work is sourced from an inner journey. Repeated gestures, infinite slowness, stretching out time: her dance pieces explore movement as one might explore calm, deep, continuous breathing.
