Lasseindra Ninja

Lasseindra Ninja has been a Paris-based dancer and choreographer for over ten years. Trained in France and the United States, she has developed her artistic practice through the organization of major balls, choreographic creations and solo and collaborative performances. In her work, she is interested in the identities and spaces that exist between the real and the virtual, from the stage to the screen and vice versa: when and under what conditions can movement be performed, and how is it perceived and judged. Her work is based on pan-African and transatlantic vectors within a contemporary reflection on the history of bodies, and the traces and reminiscences of collective dance experiences. A pioneer of the Ballroom Scene in Europe, she founded the Eurasian chapter of the International & Iconic House of Ninja. Recognized within the international Ballroom community with the title of Légende, she now explores the fields of contemporary creation, musical composition and digital arts (photo and video) within prestigious institutions such as the Centre national de la danse and the Ballet national de Marseille.

 

The choreographic project developed by Lasseindra Ninja for her residency at Villa Médicis is inspired by ballroom culture and lies at the crossroads of digital (photo, video and 3D animation) and live performance (dance, theater and performance). The theme of this creation is the notion of fair play, as it questions and critiques the ability to judge within and outside the community paradigm, a palimpsest of transformative and performative critical experience. The format of this creation is a piece lasting around an hour, for eight to ten dancers who are members of Ballroom Scene internationale. The live dance performance is complemented by multimedia projections that augment the powerful choreographic language of voguing: dramaturgical elements necessary to make explicit the transgressive narrative that inhabits the choreographer.