After 50 ans de danse – a hybrid work, somewhere between an alphabet book of forms by Merce Cunningham and a kaleidoscope of recovered gestures – Boris Charmatz proposes a new borderline choreographic object: a perceptive hologram for 24 dancers and 25 movements. Levée – like a suspension of time, of the tension of meaning, of the rules that organize perception: a blurring of the way one looks at the circulation, the passing, the appropriation of the gestures that drift among a group. In a hypnotic round, a mosaic of simultaneous actions sliding from body to body, the dancers try to produce a mirage: a subliminal impression emerging from a continuous series of states. It builds itself up, becomes undone, comes together again, condenses, accumulates, forms a nucleus, lines, folds — a living matter, solitary and collective, where each dancer is “mobile within the mobile element”.
But how does it work? How does it evolve without imploding? Moved by a void, animated by the lag between the number of actions and that of dancers, the layout generates itself on its own — giving the impression of a permanent dissolve. Exposed to duration, ceaselessly building itself up and dissolving, this variable-geometry structure summons up a floating attention: vocal ensemble to be contemplated in one look, and choreography composed with a multitude of interlocked, swivelling, repeated events; dance which simply takes place, and complex game of mechanics, in constant oscillation. With Levée des conflits, Boris Charmatz invents a “dance hole” that absorbs the gaze. A palindrome-dance, to be read in all directions. A choreographic canon, looking for the image of a utopia.
Gilles Amalvi
The movie Levée is based on Levée des conflits.
Running time: 1h40 approx.
Or Avishay, Matthieu Barbin, Eleanor Bauer, Nuno Bizarro, Matthieu Burner, Magali Caillet-Gajan, Ashley Chen, Julien Gallée-Ferré, Gaspard Guilbert, Peggy Grelat-Dupont, Christophe Ives, Dominique Jégou, Lénio Kaklea, Jurij Konjar, Élise Ladoué, Catherine Legrand, Maud Le Pladec, Naiara Mendioroz, Thierry Micouin, Andreas Albert Müller, Mani A. Mungai, Élise Olhandéguy, Felix Ott, Annabelle Pulcini
alternating with Simon Tanguy, Taoufiq Izeddiou, Fabrice Ramalingom, Nabil Yahia-Aïssa, Qudus Onikeku, Annie Hanauer, Hanna Hedman, Alex Mugler, Anne-Karine Lescop, Carlye Eckert, Kerem Gelebek, Stéphanie Landauer, Filipe Lourenço, Banu Ogan et John Sorenson-Jolink
Choreographic assistant: Anne-Karine Lescop
Costumes in collaboration with: Laure Fonvieille
Lights: Yves Godin
General stage manager: Fabrice Le Fur
Sound direction: Olivier Renouf
Light technician: Arnaud Lavisse
Orchestration software: Luccio Stiz
Dresser: Stefani Gicquiaud
Sound material: Henry Cowell, Conlon Nancarrow, Helmut Lachenmann, Morton Feldman
Mass of excerpts: David Banner, Médéric Collignon Jus de bocse, Miles Davis, Daniel Johnston, Electric Masada, Angus McColl, RZA, Terror squad, Saul Williams, Zeitkratzer
Production direction: Sandra Neuveut, Martina Hochmuth, Amélie-Anne Chapelain
Production: Musée de la danse / Centre chorégraphique national de Rennes et de Bretagne directed by Boris Charmatz, is supported by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication - the Direction régionale des Affaires Culturelles, the city of Rennes, the regional Council of Brittany and the General Council of lle-et-Vilaine.
Coproduction: Théâtre National de Bretagne-Rennes, Théâtre de la Ville-Paris/ Festival d’Automne-Paris, Manifesta 8 (Murcia, Cartagena –Spain), and ERSTE Foundation
with the support of Teatro Maria Matos/Lisbonne, Chassé Theater/Breda, Kunstenfestivaldesarts/Bruxelles
This project is supported by the Institut français/Ville de Rennes
Thanks to: Marlène Monteiro-Freitas, Dominique Jégou, Katja Fleig, Margot Joncheray, Carlos Maria Romero, the students of the Inter-University Center for Dance HZT (Berlin, year 2010), the residents of the Pavillon, laboratoire de création du Palais de Tokyo, and all those who took part in the different stages of research.
With a special thought for Vincent Druguet and Odile Duboc.
Created on November 4, 2010 at Théâtre national de Bretagne, Festival Mettre en scène, Rennes, France
Cover picture: © Nicolas Couturier (g.u.i)