The Kata, the art of solitary combat in karate, codifies and sequences techniques against imaginary opponents. Twenty-six series of movements, like the letters of an alphabet, represent a quest for the perfect gesture. By engaging in this practice and exploring its formal and symbolic meanings, Anna Chirescu creates a solo performance infused with ideas of transmission, imagination, and personal histories. It is an attempt to map signs, words, and memory. She recalls how, through the practice of this martial art, her father emancipated himself from the communist dictatorship in Romania in 1980. Interweaving dance, personal archives, vocal exploration, and costumes, the artist brings the past and its stories into the present, transforming the intimate into the political.

Support and partners: L’Etoile du Nord, a nationally recognized stage for dance and contemporary writing; La Maison Danse - CDCN Uzès; Les Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis; Le Pacifique - CDCN de Grenoble; CCN de Créteil Emka Val-de-Marne; Cie/Trans, Nice.
With support from: DRAC Île-de-France – Residency support with La Fabrique de la Danse; Île-de-France Region – Creation support; City of Paris – Residency support; The French Institute of Romania in Bucharest (IFRo) within the framework of writing and research residencies; Cromot – Artist and production house.

Residency hosts: KLAP - Maison pour la danse, Marseille; CN D, Pantin; La Briqueterie - CDCN du Val-de-Marne; Le Carreau du Temple, Paris; La Ménagerie de Verre, Paris.