What we see is far, very far away in memory. The road is long and endless   Accept to “be there”
It’s not slow, it’s there
The time of movement does not exist
No projection, no desire, no will
Listening, alertness
Whatever may happen on the road, remain attentive
If you stop listening, you stop looking
Reconcile continually everything
It is not bodies who move but space
Look far into yourself
Reveal space
Interrupt the thread of time
And on the “look-out”, wait for something to happen
Inspired from the world of road movies, Les Sentinelles report on an inner journey, a life path in an indefinable space and time. 

This is how each of my works begins: with a sort of “reversal” of physical and mental logic, contradicting these physical principles to tend towards what seems to us to be apparently “impossible” and, finally, measure the distance that separated us from ourselves.
Nacera Belaza (source: website of the company)

Born in Algeria, Nacera Belaza moved to France at the age of five. Following modern literature studies at the Université de Reims, she set up her own company in 1989. 

Decorated Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres, this self-taught artist entered the world of dance, developing a choreography that draws its source in an inner journey, a careful listening of the body, of space and the inner void. Her path, like a quest, aims to promote the direct link between the dancer and the spectator, open to the infinity of the stage. The elements of the pieces – light, space, time, the body – respond to one another on the stage, developing their own special scenography. 

Repetition of gesture, infinite slowness, stretching out of time: Nacera Belaza’s works all explore movement as you would explore a serene, profound and continuous breath rubbing against the “deafening racket of our existences”, as Nacera Belaza confided.

The Company Nacera Belaza presents its works internationally with a regular presence in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. In France, it has been invited by prestigious structures and festivals such as the Festival Montpellier Danse (2003, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2016), the Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis (2008, 2010), the Festival d’Avignon (2009, 2012), not to mention the Biennale de la danse de Lyon (2010, 2014) and the Festival de Marseille (2017, 2018). Its work, recognised by the Syndicat de la Critique (Union of theatre, musical and dance critics) in 2008 and by the SACD in 2017 (Choreography Award), has allowed the company to enjoy an international reach. 

The choreographer Nacera Belaza’s desire to share and transmit has assumed concrete shape in her relationship with publics and their territories. She has developed artistic actions and creations in multiple forms, from master classes to in situ performances. Thus, Nacera Belaza has continuously travelled between Algeria and France in the pursual of her artistic career. Alongside her activities with her company based in France, she founded an artistic cooperative in Algeria. She was responsible for the programming of the contemporary dance festival, Temps Dansé, and proposes activities for training and raising awareness of publics to contemporary art and danced gestures.

Nacera Belaza has created multiple choreographies that have been inspired by the sufi-culture. In her pieces Le Trait and Le Temps Scellé she explores the relation between traditional forms of Algerian dance, holy rituals and her own movement idiom.

http://cie-nacerabelaza.com 

Since 2001, the National Center for Dance (CND) has been making recordings of its shows and educational programming and has created resources from these filmed performances (interviews, danced conferences, meetings with artists, demonstrations, major lessons, symposia specialized, thematic arrangements, etc.).