Choreography by Herman Diephuis
A choreographic extract remodelled by the group Poplité Mobilis (Montpellier), artistic coordinators Elsa Decaudin, Fanny Delmas (CCNMLR), Marie Poutas (Crous), coach Elsa Decaudin, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2014) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

The group
Led for the last three years by the contemporary choreographer Elsa Decaudin, the group Poplité Mobilis brings together some ten students from various Montpellier universities, in relation with the Crous (regional student and university centre) and the Centre chorégraphique national based in the city. It acquired its workshop approach through contact with international artists in residency, amongst the most modern in choreographic and performance aesthetics (Antonia Baehr, Miguel Gutierrez, Antonija Livingstone, Laurent Pichaud). Improvisation work and the patient discussions it generates are at the heart of this approach. And right up to the project to participate in the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” national meeting, the forms shown have been a direct result of this.

The project
D’après J.-C. was originally created for two interpreters. The move to a group of ten has inspired role exchanges, de-multiplications, combinations and variations (particularly concerning gender issues). The extract shown was devised as a reduction making it possible to visit all the materials in the piece, but also as a new type of performance involving as much the group’s regular choreographer as the choreographer who composed the piece. This new approach benefited from direct observations from the collections of the Musée Fabre (Montpellier), thereby renewing the interpretive challenges of reading works, personification, slipping from an individual into a character, work on presence and attentive listening within the group. 

The choreographer
Initially a well-known interpreter with leading names of the Nouvelle Danse Française (New French Dance) of the 1980s, Herman Diephuis’ questions took on greater proportions when he joined Mathilde Monnier at the CCN de Montpellier in 1994. He began to work for himself as a choreographer in the early 2000s, showing interest in the new approaches focused on the deconstruction of choreographic spectacular performance or representation. However, his works have lost nothing of their refined and cultured dimension, as illustrated in 2004 with D’après J.-C., one of his greatest successes. Based on observation of the great sacred paintings of the Renaissance, the aim was to implement a critical reflection on the canons of the notion of beauty in art.

Herman Diephuis was born in 1962 in Amsterdam and lives in Paris.
He has worked as a performer for several years with numerous choreographers: Régine Chopinot, Mathilde Monnier, Jean-François Duroure, Philippe Decouflé, François Verret, Jérôme Bel, Xavier Le Roy and Alain Buffard.
In 2002, he choreographed “La C et la F de la F" as part of the project, Les Fables à la Fontaine.
He created his company, the non-profit organisation ONNO, in 2004, in order to produce his own creations and projects. In 2017 he co-created a trio choreography "Goin’down" with Naomi Fall.
At the same time, he develops creative projects with amateurs (whether or not they have an artistic background), such as "Brainstorming (2012), “La Liberté Guidant Romain Rolland" (2011), "Hors Pair" (2008) and “La Cène manquante" (2006), and site-specific projects, including in museums, such as "Vue sur Parc" in September 2014 and "Impressions" in May 2013.
He has also turned his attention as an artistic assistant or collaborator to different artists, including Mathilde Monnier, Raphaëlle Delaunay, Maud le Pladec, Romual Kabore, Teilo Troncy and the Norwegian director Théa Stabell.
He was dance expert at the DRAC in Île-de-France from 2010 to 2012.
With ONNO, he is in residence and associated artist in several cultural structures: at Le Manège, national dance theatre in Reims (2007-2010), in Woodside, California (USA) – Djerassi Resident Artists Program (2011), at the Théâtre Louis Aragon, the subsidised dance theatre in Tremblay-en-France (2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016).

Source : Herman Diephuis 's website

More information : hermandiephuis.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