An extract remodelled by the group Les Filles du lundi (Les Angles), artistic manager Céline Schneider, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2016) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

The group
This troupe of women of all ages, set up in 2007 around a hard core of contemporary dance enthusiasts, enjoys taking on creative projects to test the stage and the public in real conditions. It also ventures into choreographic actions in urban environments. Based in Les Angles (Languedoc) and directed by Céline Schneider, the group is characterised by its love for the musical exploration of gestures.

The project
It’s a fine challenge to dance an extract from Le Bénéfice du doute, choreographed in 2012 by Christian Rizzo. With this work that explores the animate and the inanimate, the duo and the group, the vitality of movement dominates throughout. The amateurs also appreciated the nuanced partnership work (that included models). Against an electro music background, this show with its strong plastic impact was transmitted by I-Fang Lin, Rizzo’s interpreter.

The choreographer
A polymorphous artist, open to visual arts and fashion, trained at the Villa Arson in Nice, Christian Rizzo, first noticed as an interpreter for Mark Tompkins and Hervé Robbe, founded his company, L’Association fragile, in 2016. He signs unusual shows somewhere in between plastic installations and postures, contemplation and daydreaming, placing meticulous, sculptured gestures on a white box background. Shows such as Soit le puits était profond, soit ils tombaient très lentement… (2005) or L’oubli, toucher du bois (2010), around the subjects of downfall and death, have left their mark on collective memory. Since 2013 this dance of postures has regained the vital energy of movement with the creation of D’après une histoire vraie, a success at the Festival d’Avignon. Christian Rizzo took over the direction of the Centre chorégraphique national de Montpellier in 2015. 

Christian rizzo was born in 1965 in Cannes. His artistic career began in Toulouse, where he started a rock band and designed a line of clothing, after which he studied fine arts at the Villa d'Arson in Nice, then unexpectedly branched out into dance. 

In the 90s he performed with a number of contemporary choreographers including mathilde monnier, herve robbe, mark tompkins and georges appaix, and sometimes created soundtracks and costumes for them as well. 

He also worked with choreographers with a different artistic approach, such as vera mantero, catherine contour, emmanuelle huynh and rachid ouramdane.

In 1996 he founded l'association fragile and began presenting events, dancing objects, solos and group pieces, as well as various projects and commissioned work in fashion and the visual arts. 

Since then, over thirty projects have borne fruit, not counting his pedagogical activities. Christian rizzo teaches on a regular basis in art schools in France and abroad, as well as in establishments devoted to contemporary dance. 

On January 1st, 2015, Christian Rizzo takes the lead of the National Choreographic Center of Montpellier. Now called ICI (International Choreographic Institute), the CCN offers a transversal vision of creation, training, artistic education and openness to the public. 

Source : Website of ICI, CCN of Montpellier

More information : 

http://ici-ccn.com/

http://www.lassociationfragile.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