15 young people aged 16 to 22 committed to a project that began in January 1998, with a programme structured around contemporary art. These first meetings supplied initial answers to the questions that these young people were asking: why are these artists interested in us? Of what use will contemporary dance, the plastic arts and architecture be to us? How will this benefit us?

The work carried out in these first few months was to open doors, allow them to discover contemporary art through exhibitions, visits to buildings, dance performances, workshops… In the words of Djamel Boumaaz, the coordinator: “…These new elements enabled young people to see something other than their hip hop culture or the walls of their neighbourhood, another universe, a universe that for them was “inaccessible”, a universe they call “high society”, and yet these young people are extremely interested in this movement, in this new world that they are unaccustomed to…” 

The meetings continued through to July. Some young people gave up along the way. The last workshop took place in the Studio Bagouet of the choreographic centre (CCN). It was during these periods of work that the actual material of the film was elaborated, namely an exploration of their vocabulary, words and language, an imaginary world reconstructed from words.

26 letters.

Among them, one letter has been lost. Who is it addressed to? Where does it come from? The enigma of a letter from a foreign country, for a foreign destination. 25 image words, question words, story words, short and collected words or long gestures.

Tell your story through a letter. Tell the word.

25 short stories parade, interweave, overlap, are danced, are replayed, through this ABC show. 

The aim is to claim a letter, to appropriate it, that of its last name, its first name, its world.

Mathilde Monnier holds a reference position in the French and international contemporary dance landscape. Her creations continuously defy expectations thanks to constant renewal. Her nomination as director of the Centre Chorégraphique de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon in 1994 has initiated a series of collaborations with people coming from different artistic domains. From artist Beverly Semmes to philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy from film director Claire Denis, Mathilde Monnier has always pushed the boundaries of a work she sees as an experience above all. Musical creation holds an important position with very varied collaborations within the fields of popular as well as scholarly music - jazz musician Louis Sclavis, composers David Moss and Heiner Goebbels, virtuoso platinist eriKm. More recently, she has used PJ Harvey's rock music but also the pink pop settings 2008 vallée, the show she co-created with singer Philippe Katerine. It came to a glorious end in the Main Courtyard at the 2008 Avignon festival. Fascinated by the concept of unison, she created the pastoral Tempo 76 show at the Montpellier Danse 07 festival on Gyôrgy Ligeti's music. In february 2008 she was commissionned by the Berlin Philarmonic Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle to choreograph Heiner Goebbels opera, Surrogate Cities. More than 130 amateurs went on stage to take part to an opera dealing with the city and the power struggle within. The same year, she presented the burlesque duet Gustavia in which she appeared along with spanish performance artist La Ribot at the Montpellier Danse 08 festival. In 2009, she created Pavlova 3'23'', in reference to the classical ballet The Death of The Swan. In 2010, working in close collaboration with visual artist Dominique Figarella, Mathilde Monnier created the show Soapéra, and subsequently paid homage to Merce Cunningham by way of the show Un américain à paris. In 2011, together with choreographer Loïc Touzé and writer Tanguy Viel, Mathilde Monnier created Nos images, a work focusing on film. Together with Jean-François Duroure, she restaged Pudique acide / Extasis at the Festival Montpellier Danse 11, two duos that the choreographers created in 1984 and 1985.

Source : Mathilde Monnier 

En savoir plus : www.mathildemonnier.com