Day breaks over a raft stranded in the middle of the desert. Around it: wind, dust and the memory of a vanished ocean.
Men and women gather there, searching in their gestures for traces of an ancient memory. They dance to survive, to exist, to avoid forgetting. Bodies spin, strike the ground, rise again and pass on the pulse of a world that falters yet still breathes. The circle comes alive, the earth trembles, the dust rises: it is the call of a collective breath, that fragile moment when trance blends with celebration.
Artistic note
Inspired by Gnawa culture and the legend of Sidi Moussa, spirit of water and guardian of passages, Amin evokes a journey — between collapse and rebirth. Music, chants, and rhythms resonate like wordless prayers: they awaken bodies, revive memories, and connect the living. Around the musician, the dancers shape a landscape of movement and impact. Their raw and sensitive energy brings forth a primal beauty. Trance here is not surrender, but resistance. Amin is a poetic and political fable that dialogues with the sacred, ritual, and spirituality of Gnawa culture — an act of raw humanity, a passage between worlds, an attempt at reconciliation between the intimate and the spiritual, between the physical and the invisible. It invites the audience to cross that moment when the body remembers, when music heals without words, when humanity becomes sensitive again. You will hear waves, a heartbeat, a breath, and perhaps, at the edge of silence, the echo of your soul…
Nonchalant and uninterested in consensus, Compagnie Dyptik dances its identity and revolt with force and authenticity.
We are committed in our relationship to alterity, to other people and the body. We explore what it means to be human. With special attention to humankind’s history, we consider the intimate and the depth of things.
Through artistic creation and transmission, when we accompany and when we host, or when we bring people together… We dig for the visceral, what is most powerful in each and every one. Sometimes to exhaustion.
Dyptik was founded in 2012 by choreographers Mehdi Meghari and Souhail Marchiche.
The company is based in Saint-Etienne, France and has the support of the city of Saint-Etienne, the DRAC, the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Loire department.
Already in their founding year 2012, Compagnie Dyptik started exploring the theme of identity, through two choreographic pieces: En quête (2012) and Dyptik (2014).
The company then continued to tackle the topic of revolt with D-Construction (2016), Dans l’Engrenage (2017), Le Cri (2018), Mirage (2021) and Le Grand Bal (2023).
Currently, Compagnie Dyptik is working on two new creations: Mussum and Amin. Inspired by the ritual and the trance of the body, Mussum is their new creation for theaters. In Amin, the new creation for public space, dance fuses with electro-hip-hop beats and is anchored in the depths of Gnawa rhythms and rituals. Amin will premiere in July 2026.
Apart from creating performances, Dyptik also organises numerous community projects and, since 2014, the Hip-Hop dance festival TRAX.
The company is committed to the values of sharing, cultural exchange and engaging with other people. Cie Dyptik opens their studio in St. Etienne to artists and the public and creates a true platform for residencies and performances.
Artistic Direction & Choreography
Souhail Marchiche and Mehdi Meghari
Performers
Davide Salvadori, Léa Bouchery, Ali El-Kihal, Assiya Eddahbi, Thibault Miglietti, Nabil Sansi
Music Creation
Patrick De Oliveira / Nabil Sansi
Set Design
Souhail Marchiche and Mehdi Meghari
Partners
La Comédie / CDN of Saint-Étienne – PIPD “Arts in Public Space”: Lieux Publics (CNAREP, Marseille), Le Cratère (SN, Alès), L’Atelline (SCIN, Juvignac), FAI-AR (Marseille) – Les Abattoirs CNAREP Chalon-sur-Saône – Le Flow & Lille3000 – Quelques Part CNAREP d’Annonay – Théâtre du Parc (Andrézieux-Bouthéon) – Théâtre de Brétigny – Institut Français du Maroc – L’Uzine (Casablanca) – Espace Maoka (Bir Jdid) – Hiba Lab (Rabat) – Dati Drouk training (Rabat) – Haplotès Fund DRAC and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region – Loire & Seine-Saint-Denis Departments – City of Saint-Étienne – ADAMI – SPEDIDAM – CNM
Cie Dyptik – Amin
