Vlovajobpru company

Vlovajobpru is a contemporary dance company created in 2005 by François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea, who are both the choreographers and the performers.

Their aesthetic includes an anthropological approach and develops an idea of the dancing body as a sculpture in movement. Their work reveals both a real interest in queer circles and urban dances, but also the influence of academic dance.

In Devoted (2015), different dances intersect like dancehall, voguing and classical. The crossings made by the nine point dancers are reminiscent of the parades of the “Balls”, which appeared in the queer, black and Hispanic American milieu, where we find voguing. The movement codes are then blurred and the artists question the classic genre: they even go so far as to create an antithetical model.

In Sylphides (2009), the bodies are hidden and oppressed in black latex coveralls that can be reminiscent of those of the SM or even body bags. The title of the work refers to the character in the play La Sylphide, a mythical, graceful and light creature who embodies the allegory of classical dance. The latter is questioned here.

We regularly find a voluntary game on the genre which creates confusion. Indeed, in (M)imosa (2011), the dancer Marlene Monteiro Freitas plays on her androgynous physique and François Chaignaud appears in drag queen. The travesty and the structure in numbers again refer to “Balls”, in particular through the dance voguing which constitutes the main axis of this show.

In Dub love (2013), the genre is blurred. The flesh leotard enhances this effect. We can see it with the androgynous physique of François Chaignaud.

We also find, in this choreography, an ambiguity between the genres danced since the dancers performers on the live music of DJ Dub High Elements.

The universe of parties and urban dances is therefore represented here.

Live music is regularly present in the works of these two artists. Here, the DJs of Butterz Record, go from grime and the dancers, costumed, in fluorescent colors and all kinds of materials, perform a choreography mixing twerk, breakdance, voguing or even classical dance.

We are then immersed in the universe of the party, the stages are often naked as in clubs and night clubs where the dance floor is clear.

This show is a dance conference. Initially performed by Ana Pi, it is here Dalila Cortes who presents urban dances.

The interpreter speaks, she explains her art. It brings out a complex cartography where voguing, dancehall, pantsula and many others remind us of the history of migrations, exclusion, struggles whose bodies bear witness.

Paris is burning (1991) is a documentary film by Jennie Livingston on “Bals”. It constitutes the first video archive of voguing dance. There we find the development of a few categories of parades and houses. In this extract, that of Willi Ninja is presented.