«A scream that leaves you speechless», several critics wrote about Nacera Belaza’s dance performance «Le cri» presented at the Rencontres choréographique internationales in Paris last year. The Algerian self-taught choreographer and devout Muslim has found an autonomous movement language that complies with the regulations of her faith. Reminiscent of the trancelike and increasing intensity of the Sufi dances, Nacera Belaza and her sister Dalila move to a tantalising soundtrack of intoned Arabic psalms and the splendid voices of Maria Callas and Amy Winehouse. «Le cri» is characterised by its restraint. The dancers seem to be riveted to the floor as their bodies slowly begin to sway and are gradually infused with life. Repetitive and hypnotic, minimalist but expansive, Nacera and Dalila Belaza’s duet touches austerity as well as pleasure, spirituality as well as a discrete form of sensuality. (esc)