Les Taroupes, in French, are the little hairs that grow between the eyes, those that seem to stand in opposition like in a duel, their follicles always symmetrically opposite. This is also the metaphor that Karine Ponties has chosen to stage two characters in her first collaboration with Jan Kuijken, composer in residence at Het muziek Lod, presented in the context of Bruxelles/Brussel 2000, European Capital of Culture.

Two identities | Two copies | One in two parts

The tireless intertwining of opposites

The caress of an animated whole

Two men, dressed in black trousers and white shirt, that could be described as rather standard—one is standing, the other's seated. The music triggers the movement of the first, which in turn sets the other in motion. Moving along parallel paths, they remain distant with no apparent connection and no eye contact. At once identical and opposite, they seem intent on avoiding each other until inevitably they come face to face. They are driven by imperceptible tensions provoked by the other's presence. Set to live music, this relationship is marked by the movements of approach and rejection, attempt and withdrawal, domination and submission, as two unidentified elements search but fail to acknowledge each other. Their respective gestures and movements remain a source of  mystery, resulting in an endless interplay between opposites. Yet so little would be required to bring them together, to have them hold each other in a unique, furtive form that borders on abstraction. The music is the external element that allows this unity. Played by Jan Kuijken at the piano, this original piece composed during improvisation sessions with dancers Alessandro Bernardeschi and Mauro Paccagnella delivers a subtle and highly organic music. 

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Karine Ponties was born in France in 1967. She started training in dance at the Juan Tena and Ramon Soler dance schools in Barcelona, and then went on to graduate from Mudra, Maurice Bejart’s school in Brussels, in 1986.
As a performer, she worked with several companies, most notably with Frédéric Flamand, Michèle Noiret, Nicole Mossoux / Patrick Bonté and Pierre Droulers, in addition to founding Dame de Pic / Cie Karine Ponties in 1995. In 1996 the company premiered at Théâtre Le Public in Brussels with solo Planta Baja, and shortly thereafter Karine Ponties was selected for the 4th Edition of Les  Pépinières européennes for young artists.

In her over 20 years of choreographing for the company, she has created over forty pieces including commissions from the Helsinki  Theater Dance Department, Lod in Ghent, the D.C.M. Foundation in Bucharest, Montréal Danse, La Petite Fabrique in Paris, Transdance  Europe 03-06 and the Moscow Ballet. She was one of seven European choreographers selected to participate in the EU-Russian contemporary  dance project, Intradance (2010). In that context, she choreographed Mirliflor, which was awarded the 2011 Golden Mask (National Theatre Award in Russia) for the best contemporary dance performance. The attention  garnered around her work at this time later led to her collaboration  with the contemporary section of the Moscow Ballet for piece "Every  Direction is North", which was awarder the 2017 Golden Mask for best contemporary dance performance.

Ponties’ award-winning collaborations with visual artist Thierry Van Hasselt (Brutalis 2002, Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques [SACD] choreographic prize; and Holeulone, 2007 best dance performance at the French-speaking Belgian Critics' Awards) highlight  the company’s commitment to interdisciplinary exploration.

Other collaborations include composer Jan Kuijken and Lod (Les Taroupes 2000, Capture d’un caillot 2001, Brutalis 2002); composer Dominique Pauwels and Lod (Le Chant d’amour du grand singe 2005, Mi non Sabir 2004, Desirabilis 2004, Holeulone 2006, Boreas 2007), visual artist Lawrence Malstaf (Boreas 2007) and visual artist and illustrator Stefano Ricci (the Scarecrow Cycle 2008-2011, gathering babil, havran, Fidèle à l’éclair, Benedetto Pacifico and Humus vertebra).

She most recently collaborated with Czech dancer Tereza Ondrová (Best Czech Dancer 2014 and 2019) and theatre director Petra Tejnorová on duo Same Same, which was awarded the Special Jury Mention at the 2019 Czech Dance Platform.
Known for works with a flair for the absurd, exploring  intimacy and interlacing relationships, Ponties' choreographies have toured nationally and internationally, notably at the Festival de la Cité (Lausanne), Tanec Praha (Prague), Julidans Theatre Bellevue  (Amsterdam), Szene Festival (Salzburg), Dublin Fringe Festival, Centre  Culturel Wallonie-Bruxelles (Paris), Neuer Tanz Festival (Freiburg),  Dansstationen (Malmö), City Theater Reykjavik (Iceland), Plesni Theater (Ljubljana), Les Hivernales d’Avignon, Les Brigittines (Brussels), Agora  de la danse (Montreal), O Espaço do Tempo (Portugal), Pavillon Noir –  National Choreographic Center of Aix-en-Provence, One Yellow Rabbit  Festival (Calgary), Théâtre des Salins – Scène Nationale (Martigues),  Festival de Marseille (France), International Dance Festival of  Cochabamba (Bolivia), National Theatre of Korea (Seoul), National  Choreographic Center of Orléans, Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Mimos  Festival (Périgueux), Uzès Danse, Kaaitheater (Brussels), Dance New  Amsterdam (New York), Festival de Otoño (Madrid), Dance Week Festival  (Zagreb), Vooruit (Ghent), Théâtre de la Cité (Paris). 

Michel Jakar (born in St. Croix, Switzerland, April 22, 1943 and died in Brussels on January 23, 2012) was a Belgian director from Switzerland. He directed fiction films and documentaries questioning theater, opera, dance, music and literature. He was also a screenwriter for film and television.

Source : Wikipédia

Dame de Pic / Cie Karine Ponties is a Belgian contemporary dance company directed by choreographer and performer Karine Ponties. Founded in Brussels (Belgium) in 1996, Dame de Pic / Cie Karine Ponties is supported by the Belgian Ministry of Culture at Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Service Danse, as well as by Wallonie Bruxelles Théâtre/Danse and Wallonie Bruxelles International. The company's office is kindly hosted at Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles. 

Find out more : http://www.damedepic.be/

Le miroir infidèle by Michel Thevoz

L’abécédaire by Gilles Deleuze

Sculptures by Josep Bofill and drawings by Vladimir Kokolia