We would like to touch one another, to dance together, but that won’t happen until later. We will perform on the spot, together, yet apart... All the same, I would like us to come close to a kind of storm! An inner storm, a brainstorm, a storm-in-place, but a storm nevertheless. Without bodies touching one another, being attracted to one another... Then we can dance, alone, yet together.
Interview with Boris Charmatz conducted by Gilles Amalvi for the Festival d’Automne in Paris (excerpts)
On June 12 and 13, 2021, the Grand Palais Éphémère opened its doors to a crowd of individuals, distanced because of the pandemic, yet swept away by the effervescence of Boris Charmatz’s choreographic score: Happening Tempête.
Following the intimacy of the sequential duets of La Ronde for the closing of the Grand Palais for renovation in January 2021, Boris Charmatz envisioned a collective momentum to overcome the constraints preventing us from dancing together at the inauguration of the Grand Palais Ephémère. For nearly three hours over one hundred performers formed a community of dancing bodies unleashed in a storm of isolated gestures. This was the result of a few hours stolen away during lockdown, when the participants were able to meet up in small groups.
The participants worked in groups and, when possible, for up to 40 hours under the guidance of professional dancers.
Performers : • 72 dance students from the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris • 15 professional actors from the compagnie de l’Oiseau-Mouche in Roubaix • 19 students from the dance workshop of l’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris • 13 CHANEL employees • 8 Rmn – Grand Palais employees • 9 former students from the Certificat Danse et pratiques chorégraphiques of Charleroi Danse (Belgium), year group 2020 • 8 professional dancers: Djino Alolo Sabin, Ashley Chen, Régis Badel, Olga
Dukhovnaya, Julien Gallée-Ferré, Rémy Héritier, Solène Wachter, Frank Willens
DANCERS ASSISTANTS: • CNSMDP : Olga Dukhovnaya, Julien Gallée-Ferré, Rémy Héritier, Solène Wachter • L’Oiseau-Mouche : Mathieu Burner, Ashley Chen, Frank Willens • Dance Workshop from Beaux-Arts : Régis Badel, Djino Alolo Sabin • CHANEL : Ashley Chen • Rmn – Grand Palais : Sidonie Duret, Tatiana Julien, Ashley Chen • Certificat Danse et pratiques chorégraphiques de Charleroi Danse : Bryana Fritz
3 hours
Choreographic assistant Magali Caillet Gajan
Dancers assistant Djino Alolo Sabin, Régis Badel, Mathieu Burner, Ashley Chen, Olga Dukhovnaya, Sidonie Duret, Bryana Fritz, Julien Gallée-Ferré, Rémy Héritier, Tatiana Julien, Solène Wachter, Frank Willens.
Lights Yves Godin
Sound Olivier Renouf
Technical director Erik Houllier
Stage manager Fabrice Le Fur assisted by François Aubry
Sound engineer Perig Menez
Music Ellen Arkbro, J. S. Bach, Stefan Fraunberger, Kali Malone, Pan Sonic & Charlemagne Palestine…
Production Rmn – Grand Palais and [terrain]
Happening Tempête is a creation by Boris Charmatz, produced by the Réunion des musées nationaux – Grand Palais and [terrain], presented for the 49th édition of the Festival d’Automne à Paris. This event benefits from the exclusive sponsorship of CHANEL. Happening Tempête is co-produced by the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris ; Compagnie de l’Oiseau-Mouche ; École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, atelier danse performance. In collaboration with the Festival d’Automne à Paris.
[terrain]
Deputy director : Hélène Joly
Director of productions : Martina Hochmuth
Production managers : Florentine Busson et Briac Geffrault
Project manager : Elodie Vitrano
Rmn-Grand Palais
President : Chris Dercon
General deputy director : Emmanuel Marcovitch
Event curator : Nathalie Vimeux
Project manager : Virginie Lagane
Project manager : Jessica Crasnier
Technical coordination : Elitza Moniot assisted by Léa Téqui
Image : © Maurice Brussey