Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Hervé Koubi’s gravity-defying WHAT THE DAY OWES TO THE NIGHT meditates on the choreographer’s Algerian roots

• By drediman
• January 30, 2025
• No Comments

This week, the virtuosic Compagnie Hervé KOUBI has returned to The Joyce with What The Day Owes To The Night, one of the company’s signature pieces. Inspired by Algerian author Yasmina Khadra’s novel of the same name, the work finds French-Algerian choreographer Hervé Koubi — the company’s artistic director — contemplating his Algerian roots. Having been raised in France without knowledge of his Algerian heritage, this eventual discovery led Koubi to establish his namesake dance company, as well as create the evening-length piece currently at The Joyce.

Conjured based on a trip back to Algeria — during which Koubi collaborated with numerous street dance performers in the area — What The Day Owes To The Night is an expressionistic evocation of the desert and sun-soaked streets of his homeland, as well the solidarity and sense of community amongst the people of the region. Using Koubi’s swirling and distinctive choreographic aesthetic — which seamlessly integrates martial arts, acrobatics, street dancing, and contemporary dance — the piece is infused with an alluring sense of strength and masculinity that pops off the stage, whether in explosive high-flying maneuvers or stage-hugging choreography. Indeed, no one moves nor flies quite like the Compagnie Hervé KOUBI dancers, and their daredevil athleticism and cool confidence throughout is imminently crowd-pleasing and nothing short of breathtaking to behold.

Despite the ravishing physicality of it all, the piece moves with serene grace and a contemplative air — which are evident even during the work’s most gravity-defying moments, thanks particularly to some phenomenal body control and the grounded discipline of the production’s thirteen dancers — altogether giving the poetic impression of viewing a fleeting mirage. What The Day Owes To The Night concludes on a hushed note as it hauntingly fades into darkness, as if what was uncovered on Koubi’s meditative journey to his beginnings has once again been lost to the sands of time.

RECOMMENDED

COMPAGNIE HERVÉ KOUBI: WHAT THE DAY OWES TO THE NIGHT
Dance
The Joyce Theater
1 hour, 5 minutes (without an intermission)
Through February 2