A choreographic extract remodelled by the group Ainsi Danse (Épinal), artistic coordinator Danielle Grandmougin, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2014) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

The group
In Épinal in Les Vosges region, for the past fifteen years and more, the group Ainsi Danse has occasionally organised workshops-training courses with guest dancers and choreographers (Daniel Larrieu, Hans Van den Broek, Jean-François Duroure, Annick Charlot, Accrorap company). It also organises contemporary balls. Originally an offshoot from the French Education Board’s workshops for school teachers, the eight members of Ainsi Danse are normally more than forty years old (and up to sixty). Their meeting with Denis Plassard thanks to his presence at the scène nationale d’Épinal, instilled in these women the desire to take on a very masculine piece and to take up the choreographic challenge concealed in DéBaTailles, an excellent incentive in terms of implication and technicity. 

The project
This is Denis Plassard’s fourth project with “Danse en amateur et repertoire”. The choreographer is a great fan of this context in which amateurs push back the limits of the “conveniences” of the workshops adapted to their level. Deceptively nonchalant, DéBaTailles conceals a great many situations, figures and relationships that are very tricky to reproduce. Also, its lack of any formal stability means it is far from a safe option for transmission purposes. Yet it is well and truly a written piece that must be recreated as closely as possible to the original, although it is full of very specific human landscapes and situations that nurture its creative process, joyfully uniting a young all-male band of contemporary and hip-hop dancers and circus artists.

The choreographer
A graduate from the Conservatoire national supérieur de Lyon, Denis Plassard created his solo Propos in 1990, and his company of the same name the following year. His works have often played on the link between word and movement, in relationships of quirkiness, mockery and humour. The choreographer enjoys bringing different aesthetics and universes into contact with each other. Created in 2008 and performed more than one hundred and twenty times, the piece DéBaTailles is the perfect example of this. Following work with hip-hop dancers, Denis Plassard decided to graft his experience of battle challenges onto the world of contemporary dance, without forgetting to include circus artists with whom, incidentally, he had already worked. The piece brims over with the playful and sprightly experience of its preparation.  

Denis Plassard started to dance on a misunderstanding : wrapped up in crepe paper for the "End of the Year Show" in primary school, he was convinced that the steps meant something and that putting them together was just like writing sentences to tell a story... Since then, a question (a bit odd for a dancer/choreographer) haunts him: what does the movement mean? What do we say when we move?

He then decided to study dance and entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Lyon. After he graduated, he danced for 2 seasons with Josette Baïz's company in Aix-en-Provence.

In 1991, at the age of 23, he set up his own company named after his first solo, “Propos”, which was created the year before. Very early in his choreographic career, he tried to create dynamic links between speech and movement and his work focused on the connection between "Dance and Text". His choreographic writing is precise, sharp and very theatrical, and his style is quirky and full of humour and derision. Prolific choreographer and eager dancer, he enjoys being confronted with new universes and is continually looking for artistic meetings and crossroads between different aesthetics.

From Kafka to Mermet, from Bizet to Labiche, from the stage to the circus ring, he keeps having new ideas that mix hip-hop, circus, music, theatre and dance.

Source : The company Propos 's website

More information : compagnie-propos.com

From live stage images to life in images, the  director and video artist Karim Zeriahen seems to have found the  shortest way. Since the beginning of the 90s, when he worked in close  relationship with choreographer Philippe Decouflé, he learned how to put  the art of stage in motion, contemporary dance most of the time. Karim  Zeriahen then starts a fruitful collaboration with Montpellier based  choreographer Mathilde Monnier. Stop, Videlilah, day of night, short  films adapted from her stage creations. Each time, Karim Zeriahen's   camera takes over the place with movement, the body language is not  frozen but magnified. Choreographer Herman Diephuis also joins this  gallery of dancing portraits. Documentaries on figures such like Albert  Maysles or Hubert de Givenchy and from Joe Dalessandro to Paul  Morrissey, he sets a signature, a camera always in action with  confidence.

Today the director goes further with a new  project and tracks the subtle movements of the body language beyond the  physical appearance. A collection of living portraits as unique pièces  reminding us of the master portraitists of renaissance. These living  natures consists in filming the subject in a certain amount of time,  almost still, with signs of respiration, eye blinks, as if it were  posing for a painting. They are then displayed on a flat screen with a  memory card. With this collection starting, Karim Zeriahen, with his  documentary and artist vision, interrogates himself about the virtual  world filled with images. By taking a pause, and his models with him, he  questions the way we look at things, the way we look at life.

Source: Philippe Noisette 

En savoir plus: www.karimzeriahen.com

Amateur Dance and Repertory is a companion program to amateur practice beyond the dance class and the technical learning phase. Intended for groups of amateur dancers, it opens a space of sharing for those who wish to deepen a practice and a knowledge of the dance in relation to its history.

Laurent Barré
Head of Research and Choreographic Directories
Anne-Christine Waibel
Research Assistant and Choreographic Directories
+33 (0)1 41 83 43 96
danse-amateur-repertoire@cnd.fr

Source: CN D

More information: https://www.cnd.fr/en/page/323-danse-en-amateur-et-repertoire-grant-programme