Ten years on, it is interesting to reread the reactions to Pâquerette, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea’s first work, following its premiere. The response to the arrival of this unique duo on the choreography scene was as ambiguous as the work they were presenting. Ultimately, the question is deciding from what perspective to view this challenging work: should it be seen as a ‘contra-sexual manifesto’, a choreographic fantasy, a précis of preciosity or a physical performance? All of these hypotheses are valid. Indeed, with Pâquerette it is not simply a question of what there might be to see, but of reassessing the frameworks that condition our vision. The anus, that violet carnation celebrated by Rimbaud, is by turns principle of (invisible) pleasure, an object of urges, dynamic crux, orifice and generator of movement. Thus the journey that they propose starts out from a concealing – borrowing from the iconography of the trance, of beatitude – enabling an unveiling, and then a paradoxical setting into motion. Along the way, a veritable cartography of the gaze is traced, seeking to expose bodies moved by other principles. Encompassing elementary physics in the form of thrusts, suspensions and penetrations, a choreographic exercise and erotic live show, Pâquerette has lost none of its disturbing ambivalence. Seeing the work again today makes it possible to reinterpret it in the light of subsequent projects, and to understand certain issues more clearly. It’s an enquiry, simultaneously literal and metaphorical, into dance through its orifices, gaps and unexplored zones.

”Ms. Bengolea, from Argentina, and Mr. Chaignaud, from France, have been working together since 2005. They are an inimitable pair, pinpointing an exhilarating place where fear meets  bravery. […] “Pâquerette” is hardly erotic; it’s more about sexual politics and levels of sensation. Ms. Bengolea and Mr. Chaignaud know how to get a viewer’s attention, yet their cheeky style of shock shakes you up in the best sense. You walk through the world a little more aware  of what it means to be alive. The metamorphosis, it seems, works two  ways.”

Gia Kourlas – The New York Times (Source : website of the company http://vlovajobpru.com)

Born in Buenos-Aires, Cecilia Bengolea studied urban dance forms, before to pursue studies in anthropological dances with Eugenio Barba, as well as Philosophy and Art History at the University of Buenos Aires. In 2001, she moved to Paris and followed the training Ex.e.r.c.e. directed by Mathilde Monnier in Montpellier.
In dialogue with Levi Strauss’s œuvre Tristes tropiques, Cecilia Bengolea co-directed two videos in 2011: La Beauté (tôt) vouée à se défaire with Donatien Veisman and Cri de Pilaga with Juliette Bineau. As a dancer, choreographer and performance artist, Cecilia Bengolea perceives dance and performance as ‘animated sculpture’ and welcomes the fact that these forms allow her to become both ‘object and subject at the same time’.

In 2016, Bengolea was commissioned by the ICA for London Art Night 2016 to present a video installation into holographic mirrors at Covent Garden Market and perform an outdoor participatory dancehall practice in the historical West Piazza of Covent Garden with ballerina Erika Miyauichi and dancehall artist Damion BG Dancerz. Bengolea also works with artists Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Monika Gintersdorfer, Knut Klassen as well as Jamaican Dancehall artists such as Joan Mendy and Damion BG dancerz. In collaboration with Jeremy Deller (UK), she co-directed the film RythmAssPoetry (rap) commissioned by the Biennale de Lyon 2015. Their second film, Bombom’s Dream, shot in Jamaica in 2016, commissioned by Hayward Gallery London and Sao Paulo Biennial 2016.

Source: The company Vlovajob Pru 's website

More information

vlovajobpru.com

Since 2001, the National Center for Dance (CND) has been making recordings of its shows and educational programming and has created resources from these filmed performances (interviews, danced conferences, meetings with artists, demonstrations, major lessons, symposia specialized, thematic arrangements, etc.).

Cecilia Bengolea et François Chaignaud collaborent depuis 2005. Ensemble, ils créent Pâquerette (2005-2008), Sylphides (2009), Castor et Pollux (2010), Danses Libres (2010), (M)IMOSA (coécrit et interprété́ avec Trajal Harrell et Marlene Monteiro Freitas, 2011), Altered Natives’ Say Yes To Another Excess – TWERK (2012), Dub Love (2013) et DFS (2016). Ils créent en septembre 2014 en ouverture de la Biennale de la Danse de Lyon How Slow The Wind  pour sept danseurs du Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon et signent en 2015 deux  autres chorégraphies originales pour le Ballet de Lorraine (Devoted), sur une musique de Philip Glass et pour le Tanztheater Wuppertal (The Lighters’ Dancehall Polyphony).

Avec Sylphides, performance écrite  pour des corps évoluant dans des combinaisons de latex à air comprimé,  ils gagnent le Prix de la critique de Paris en 2009. Cinq ans plus tard,  François Chaignaud et Cecilia Bengolea reçoivent le prix Jeunes  Artistes à la Biennale de Gwangju pour l’ensemble de leur œuvre. Leurs  créations sont présentées entre autres au Festival d’Automne et au  Centre Pompidou à Paris, au festival Impulstanz à Vienne, à The Kitchen  et à l’Abrons Art Centre de New York, au Festival d’Avignon, à la Tate  Modern et l’ICA de Londres, au théâtre Sadler’s Wells de Londres, au  Tanz im August à Berlin, à la Biennale de Lyon, au festival Montpellier  Danse, au deSingel à Anvers, au Centre National de la Danse à Pantin, au  Teatro de la Ribera à Buenos Aires, au Panorama Festival à Rio de  Janeiro ou au SESC Sao Paulo et enfin plus récemment en octobre 2018 au  Festival international Kyoto Experiment, au Japon.

Source : Site de la Compagnie

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