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J'ai respiré par la peau du ventre
For Annabel, the central questions of this work are: “What is my dance today? How do I claim space through my body—and through my voice? How does my voice trigger my body, and vice versa? Also, what do the texts I’ve written from 2010 to the present say? And how will I give them voice?” Annabel, in a deeply spiritual and intimate journey, is an explorer of the tangible and intangible worlds. Through her texts, she also asserts her own autonomy of expression. This piece will serve as an outlet for her, a punk prayer, an Afro-punk prayer. Annabel carries this question with her like a guiding thread, a compass. After years of radical performances and research centered on the female body, she returns to the essence of her practice: dance as an act of living, as a space for listening, as a space for reinvention. Influenced by the teachings of Anna Halprin, Annabel approaches her body as a whole: physical, spiritual, and political. In J’ai respiré par la peau du ventre, she explores how the voice can become an extension of movement, how breath passes through the flesh, and how inner fire shapes dance.
This residency hosted by Santarcangelo Festival will end with a public sharing and debate with the local community of Santarcangelo di Romagna.
Credits
Choreography and performance Annabel Guérédrat
Guitarist Raphaël Gautier
Annabel Guérédrat
Born in New Caledonia, Annabel Guérédrat bridges academic knowledge and embodied practice. Trained in literature, history, dance, and somatic practices, she crafts a language of movement rooted in memory, resistance, and Caribbean territories. Her works are part of major contemporary performance scenes in France, the Caribbean, and internationally. Conceived for demanding spaces — museums, festivals, national stages, alternative venues, or open-air sites — her performances summon the body, memory, spirituality, radical ecofeminism, and social commitment.
Having honed his craft at Jazz à Tours and then at Pôle Sup’93—under the guidance of Antoine Polin, Vincent Ségal, and Julien Lourau — Raphaël Gautier has developed a style heavily influenced by jazz, yet equally steeped in rock, pop, and other more experimental genres. In the duo Louise et Michel, a two-time finalist in the Jazz Migration springboard competition (2022 and 2023), he explores an electrified folk universe. Raphaël Gautier is based in Paris, where he can be seen performing with captivating young groups, including nit and dogs (Jazz Migration 2025 winner), Solar is dead?, and Bokovoy.