Arnold Pasquier slips onto the stage and wings to film the rehearsals of Mon amour by Christian Rizzo (creation at the Opéra de Lille in 2008). The boundary between performance capture and making-of is blurred here; likewise, what licence does he grant himself with respect to the chronology and reasons that the choreographer develops? 

What is certain is that, from the title of the show to that of the film, the filmmaker’s commitment is revealed: he is no simple observer. A dance film or a danced film? Notre amour does not decide either way. This is because, while it remains close up to the dancers, capturing gestures and expressions, or trying to read on faces the integration and maturing work in progress, the film adds to Rizzo’s work what essentially it is missing, the close-ups, the isolation of the figures, the in- and out-of-frame, the ubiquity and the rhythms that editing allows. 

Arnold Pasquier’s film thus acquires its own mode of functioning, naturally going where the dance spectator cannot: very, too close to the bodies, as though on the mats of a rehearsal studio. Above all he creates ellipses, gaps and absences that only cinema permits, until he loses at times, or so it seems, the coherence of the dancers’ work. However, he thus rediscovers the pulsation of the original work, full of entwinings and embracings, separations and tearings asunder. He also rediscovers the erotic parade and its magnetism, the love that has always been the fine concern of the filmmaker.

Source : Mathieu Capel

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/

Arnold Pasquier was born in Paris in 1968. After studying visual arts and cinema, he made tests in Super 8 and video, in which he developed a world of filmed newspapers and fictions. At the age of twenty, he approaches contemporary dance and collaborates with choreographers as documentarist and dancer. This experience marks the realization of a work where dance holds an important place.

From 1997 to 1999, he was received as a resident artist at the Fresnoy (Tourcoing, France) where he designed the installation "C'est ici que j'avais des baisers" (1997-1999) and produced about twenty short films, four radio design workshops For France Culture and dance performances capturing. In 1999, he presented the show "C'est merveilleux" in the Grande Nef du Fresnoy. He is the author of numerous films (fiction, documentary, video art), staged shows, scenographies, radio broadcasts. His work is articulated at the crossroads of these different disciplines. Winner of a residence Villa Médicis Hors les Murs (outside the wall) in Sao Paulo in 2004, he dances for Julie Desprairies in "La danse en accès accès", "Vue sur la mer" and "Là commence le ciel". He co-signs with her the video-dance installation "Les 3 contents", the result of the residence of the choreographer at the Manufacture de Sèvres (France).

Source : The Compagnie des prairies 's website

More information

compagniedesprairies.com