This film tells the creation process of Michel Schweitzer's performance "Keep Calm", presented as part of the Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis 2017 festival. Michel Schweizer invited children aged 9 to 12 to come together for a creation exclusively intended for adults. He started writing work with them in a series of workshops designed to reflect on their relationship with the adult world. 

These workshops resulted in the constitution of three lists of sentences commonly developed, negotiated and shared by all. Lists of what they can do, what they know and think about adults. At the same time as this work of reflection and writing, Michel Schweizer brings children to the artistic field through a playful theatrical practice that allows them training in observation and public address, and prepares them to be the more comfortable and as free as possible for the performance. During the performance, adults are invited to sit down, sit still and listen. Each child chooses the adult they want to speak to, grabs the microphone connected to that person's headset and starts talking to them, looking them in the eyes. The adult finds himself face to face with the child who observes him and addresses him in an unprecedented way. A device that allows children to see and hear differently, and thereby also questions the place of the film spectator.  Precious insight into the world of 9-12 year olds, this project surprises, disturbs and entertains in what it reveals and reveals about ourselves.

Michel Schweizer doesn't have a degree in molecular biology. Don't try to "whisper the dance in your ear". Never studied in Berlin, Paris or New York. However, he didn't discover it when he was four. Has still not initiated a home savings plan. Do not refuse the meeting. Didn't have a chance to appreciate the obvious "the first time". Cannot consider his activity without a deep mistrust. Couldn't find another word to define what it brings him: luxury. Still hasn't had a chance to smile about his next investment: a Hugo Boss suit. Nor that of reacting to its paradoxical acclimatization outside. Still hasn't reread all of Deleuze. Doesn’t pretend to say that he is pretentious. Do not work to "vibrate his sacrum". Do not assume production without those who generate and authorize it. Has not read The Sexual Life of Catherine M .. Very rarely flips through the Echoes or the forum for advertising pages or job offers. Regrets not having been able to study architecture, ethology, language sciences or design. Enjoy the enchantment that comes with being a member of the "creative class" of this country. 

Has abandoned all hedonism and playful egocentricity and accepted the waning exuberance of his brain capacity. Absorb 4 grams of Selenium ACE Progress 50 each morning because age is not inevitable. Avoid thinking that 7000 liters of blood circulate daily in his heart. Also avoid thinking that his "profile" is now drawn in algorithms. Has not undertaken an audit to assess its digital reputation. Takes a certain appetite to experience "things" of which he feels incapable ... 

He summons and organizes provisional communities. Applies to measuring the degrees of exhaustion. Orders a score as close as possible to reality. Play with the limits and relational issues that maintain art, politics and economics. Take a caustic look at the commodification of the individual and of language. Above all arises as an organizer. Causes the meeting. Invites us to share an experience, the benefit of which would depend on our ability to welcome others, to give them a place. It presupposes this: being able to cultivate loss rather than having it ... 

Source: La Coma 

Camera operator and director graduated from the Louis Lumière school, Corinne Dardé has been making creative documentaries around art and dance since 1998, most of which have been selected by international festivals (Keep Calm, Madri e figli_Padri e figli, Gao Xingjian, La danse du corps qui parle, White Notes, ect) She collaborates in particular with choreographers, directors and musicians, to creation videos, recordings, filmed portraits. (Sandrine Maisonneuve, Anne Nguyen, Nicolas Frize, Jacques Rebotier, Collective Except Sunday, Julie Nioche, Cie 29x27, ect) She has been an associated artist in several territorial residencies for choreographers offered by Rencontres Chorégraphiques de Seine Saint-Denis, and CLEA (Local Artistic Education Contract) at CDC Val de Marne and in Arpajonnais.

The Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis  is a contemporary dance festival dedicated to new choreography from  international artists which happens in the northern Paris suburb called  Seine-Saint-Denis. The festival was conceived through a sharp eye  questioning world events and searching for innovative dance forms.
From 2000, Anita Mathieu spearheads the Rencontres chorégraphiques and  change the competition into an annual festival. Since 2003, it has  become a recognized festival. Every year, more than twenty  choreographers present their works in many theatres in  Seine-Saint-Denis.

Source:  Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis