site.btaDance Artists Ziya Azazi and Marion Crampe: Through Dance We Build Love and Trust

In an interview for BTA, dance artists Ziya Azazi and Marion Crampe talk about their art, the partner on stage, messages, and love on the occasion of the premiere of their performance Pietà 2.0, presented in Sofia on September 10, 11, and 12. In their words, dance builds love and trust; it is hope, communication, complementation, a ritual.

"Love can be anything and everything at the same time. I think, at least to me, love is life. And it's the most important thing that we need to take care of, because it can be lost sometimes. But if we search well, love is somewhere in one of the closets, very hidden," Crampe tell BTA's Dahnyelle Dymytrov.

"Love is actually that two particles come together and love to have friction in any form, to understand which distance and which form they should create together to go on in life," Azazi says.

The performance Pietà 2.0 has been inspired by Michelangelo's sculpture and explores the theme of human connectedness and hope for a better future, combining Marion Crampe's aerial artistry with Ziya Azazi's contemporary whirling dervish dance. The music is by Saman Karbalaei, a composer, producer and sound designer based in Istanbul, who often works under the name Blue Mind. 

Following is the text of the interview:

What is Pietà 2.0?

Ziya Azazi: "The hope that we can understand all cognitive experiences at a deeper level, to implement them and to become them, which means to get the chance to communicate more, create trust, transparency, that we love each other more, which we totally forgot in this contemporary life, because life became very demanding."

Marion Crampe: "It is a ritual that anybody can experience and have their own interpretation of what is Pietà. Therefore, we try to be the most honest and real with our intention and our dance." 

How would you describe your partner on stage?

Marion Crampe: "Complementary and supportive, soft and strong at the same time. A partner that anybody would love to have, for sure."

Ziya Azazi: "My extension, or as you say, the piece completing me and the story in each form, but at the same time, I am the part completing her in any other story we act on. Two pieces coming together and completing each other." 

What is this performance's main message?

Marion Crampe: "Hope and love is the main message."

Ziya Azazi: "To focus on implementation of all that we have here at cognitive level, that we bring it down to heart to get a chance to communicate. Love is actually that two particles come together and love to have friction in any form, to understand which distance and which form they should create together to go on in life. Everything cognitive experience needs to be implemented to feel it and become it. That is the main message."

What is love?

Marion Crampe: "Love can be anything and everything at the same time. I think, at least to me, love is life. And it's the most important thing that we need to take care of, because it can be lost sometimes. But if we search well, love is somewhere in one of the closets, very hidden."

Ziya Azazi: "When two particles come together and create space and time for each other, then the friction between the two makes them understand, both of them, how to relate, how to stay together, how much distance and time for each other or for oneself should be created, and place themselves in space-time accordingly. If the two in any form - mama, son, papa, daughter, two lovers, two kids, any form or two colleagues at professional level come together and stay together and understand the challenge and work for it in the right way, they find the right place and right distance and right amount of time they spend together. If they understand, do this, automatically you feel this sensation, we name it love."

Ziya, why is it so close to your heart? Why do you come so often in Bulgaria?

Ziya: I think Bulgaria, in comparison to other European countries, geographically stays in a location where many cultures, many languages, many nations were crossing this geography. This made Bulgaria a bit similar to Anatolia, where I was born. And historically also the Ottomans have been here, so therefore there is a relation between these two geographies. I don't want to say countries, but geographies. Therefore I think the geography here understands what I'm trying to suggest. And therefore I think they invite me more, and therefore I feel at home.

Ziya Azazi was born in Antakya, Turkiye, in 1969. He is a dancer and choreographer based in Vienna. He has devoted over three decades to the art of dance. Over the past 20 years, he has maintained an active international presence, conducting an average of 45 performances, 10 workshops, 2 collaborations, 1 project and 1 presentation per year, which includes about 35 trips to 15 countries each year. In 2018, he launched the Dervish in Progress instructor training programme, which attracts participants from 15 countries.

Marion Crampe was born in 1983 in Lourdes, France. She is an artist who has established herself as a prominent figure in the world of dance and movement. Beginning her journey at the age of 25 into flexibility and pole dancing, she was quickly recognised as a global ambassador for movement, spirituality and artistry. Supported by the Lupit Pole company, she continues to explore movement and share her passion with the world, inspiring others with her artistry and spirit, both on and off stage.