To mark the 30th annual Eurockéennes Festival in Belfort, VIADANSE – Centre chorégraphique national de Bourgogne Franche-Comté à Belfort (National Choreographic Centre of Burgundy and Franche-Comté in Belfort – CCN Belfort) invited 18 choreographers, representing the wide diversity in the field of choreography. The film director Nicolas Habas followed them on the natural site of Malsaucy, from the beginning of the preparations for the festival, and throughout it to the end. The choreographers took part in all that happened, everywhere it happened (stages, technical storage management areas, traffic routes, crowds of audiences, backstage…) resulting in danced portrayals that documented in a recreational manner the impressive machinery needed to bring about the event.

Clip #03 – shot on the shores of the Véronne lake with Sarah Tan and Idio Chichava from the Kubilai Khan Investigations Company.

Born in 1966 in Nice, Frank Micheletti trained in theatre with Jean-Pierre Raffaelli and worked with Hubert Colas and Isabelle Pousseur. He then decided to become a dancer and trained with Catherine Diverrès and Bernado Montet as well as with Josef Nadj. He performed in “Aux rois couverts de cendres” (“To the kings covered in ash”), choreographed by William Petit, and since 1994 has participated in the creations of the Josef Nadj Company as a dancer (“Le Canard pékinois” (“The Peking Duck”), “Les Echelles d’Orphée” (“Orpheus' Ladders”), “L’Anatomie d’un fauve” (“The anatomy of a fawn”), “Woyzek”, “Commedia Tiempo”, “Les Commentaires d’Habacuc” (“The commentaries of Habacuc”)) and became his assistant for the production of the “Cri du caméléon” (“Cry of the chameleon”), produced with the Centre National des Arts du Cirque (National Centre for Circus Arts). In 1996, he worked with Cynthia Phung-Ngoc, Ivan Mathis and Laurent Letourneur, the collective Kubilaï Khan Investigations and collaborated on each of these creations: “Wagon Zek, dépôt” (1996), “Wagon Zek, dépôt 2” (1997), “S.O.Y.” (1999), “Tanin no Kao” (2001), “Mecanica popular” (2002), “Sorrow love song” (2004), “Akasaka research” (2004), “Gyrations of barbarous tribes” (2005, creative residence in Mozambique), “Akasaka research #2” (2006), “Koko Doko” (2006, Franco-German project), “Coupures” (2007), “Geografía” (2008), “4 Song” (2009), “Espaço Contratempo” (2009), “Archipelago” (2010-2011), “Tiger Tiger Burning Bright” (2012), “Volt(s) Face” (2013), “Mexican Corner” (Franco-Mexican creation 2013), “Your ghost is not enough” (2013-2014)… He also participated in CRASH LANDING, a series of improvisations led by Meg Stuart at the Théâtre de la Ville and participated in Ring, an interactive show by Felix Ruckert. He also joined a collective of artists in Santiago de Chile, co-produced a performance installation on the memory of the body and took part in a project for artists from Latin America called La Frontera.

Sources : Biennale de la danse program ; Kubilaï Khan Investigations's website

More information : kubilai-khan-investigations.com

Nicolas Habas comes from cinema first, as a screenwriter and director of several short fiction films including Le mal de Claire, broadcast on French TV and documentaries (La parole en chantier, triptych on a popular neighborhood in urban renewal). He is very interested in the tensions between reality and the imaginary, society and intimacy, geography and territories. With a self-taught apprenticeship that led him to a deep understanding of the codes of the film industry, he decided to find «his» cinema and returned with Le Corps de la Ville, the web series anchored in dance, to his first loves, since he made his first dance video in 1998. Shot during the 30° Eurockéennes de Belfort Festival and Broadcast on Arte Concert, Mouvements is its second web series.

Filmography :

2022 Danse ton île - Documentary 52’ (support : HD, © JPL Productions/ AV Com Productions/ France Télévision).

2021 Le corps de la ville en Martinique - Documentary 52 ‘ and web series (support : HD, 10 x 5’, © JPL Productions/ WIPS Productions/ France Télévision).

2020 Pères en prison - Short documentary (support HD, time 5’ © Festival La Rochelle Cinéma/ studio Un Poil Court)

2019 Le corps de la ville à Nouméa - Documentary 52 ‘ and web series (support : HD, 10 x 5’, © JPL Productions/ AV Com Productions/ France Télévision).

2018 Mouvements - Documentary 26’ and web series (support : HD, 18 x 3’, © Séquence SDP/ Eurockéennes de Belfort/ Viadanse/ Ccn de Belfort/ Arte Concert).

2014/2019 Le corps de la ville - Web series (support : HD, 36 x 4’, © studio Un Poil Court in partnership with La Rochelle Cinéma Festival , Studio Chérie (Berlin), le Périscope (Lyon), Nocte Graus Festival (Spain), DAN.CIN.FEST, La Rochelle's CCN, En Knap Cie (Slovenia), Hors Série Cie, Propos Cie, Jean Claude Gallotta Cie and Lyon's CNSMD).

2011 Mauvaise graine - Short fiction (support : 35 mm, 21’, © CLC Productions/ Lyon TV).

2006/2012 La parole en chantier - Documentary triptych (support : HDV, 3 x 40’, © Petits bolides films/ Espace Louis Aragon).

2004 Le mal de Claire - Short fiction (support : Super 16 mm, 14’, © Lumina Films/France Télévision).

2000 En attendant septembre - Short fiction (support : DV, 30’, © Petits Bolides films/ Carré Image). 

1998 Marie au parc - Dance video (support : VHS, 7’, autoproduction).

Artistic direction: Franck Micheletti

Creation: 1996

Established more than 20 years and with 25 creations performed in France and more than 60 countries, Kubilai Khan investigations is recognized as a creative platform with many facets, a source of artistic dynamism of both local and international scale. From the coasts of Mozambique right across to the bay of Tokyo, sliding from one time zone to another, activating the transversal natures of artistic languages and questioning cultural issues.
Artistic projects never cease to question the mutations of our space/world, probing the depths of the transformations in progress, observing the continuous emergence of reality and its representations through the encounters between arts, territories and people. An international dynamics is experienced through the shows on tours and furthermore during the numerous residences and creations in the different locations (up to now many works have been created, rehearsed and shown beyond our borders collaborating with artists in Japan, Ghana, Mozambique, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Bulgaria, Poland, Indonésia and Mauritania).

By promoting the "two-way" perspective, facilitating crossovers between local involvement and international projects, Kubilai Khan has been able to fully develop synergy with those encounter groups, multiplying points of view and enabling different visions and spoken thoughts thus to contribute by being present within and across diversified territories. Journeying, coming closer to others in the “use of the world” as Nicolas Bouvier has said. This “two-way” perspective allows us to develop within several towns in France and our foster home, Toulon and its region, this momentum of opportunities by instigating many performances for public spaces. Totally new forms, journeys, pathways drawn up on site, all inviting the public to renew its vision of society and the places we occupy in our towns.

At a time when many networks cross each other, strategic crossroads of movement, transfers and ultra-rapid mobility in this world of many poles continuously redefining itself, these dynamics of journeying remain for us a privileged terrain from which we can observe the processes of modernization as they become even more transitory, changeable and unpredictable, from where it is also possible to observe and listen to the new uses and faces of the future.

Since its inception, the company has been the «artist associated» with different organizations and their territories (CNCDC Châteauvallon in Ollioules, Pôle Sud in Strasbourg, the Arsenal in Metz, the national theatre La Comédie in Clermont-Ferrand, the Louis Aragon Theatre in Tremblay-en-France). Thus we have developed specific and appropriate forms through a relationship with the town, its urban structure and social fabric structure. We have also defined ways of passing on experience gained and encouraged meetings with the different townsfolk involved. In 2011-2013, the compagny is in residence in Théâtre Paul Eluard at Bezons. in 2016 it starts a new association with les Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine Saint-Denis and le Théâtre du Beauvaisis.

We have sought to formulate our methodologies of work which are enhanced by the collective reality of our daily lives. Bodies who are intimately aware of their immediate relationships with the town.
As a sort of micro-political positioning, a micro-geography, dance as a medium of journeying, going beyond limits, triggering experiences. Today Kubilai Khan continues its journey by way of forms and stages, continues interweaving and crossover gestures, to move the locations where dance and music is presented, to find new visions. Choreographed pieces, paths through towns, site-specific performances, new constellations... as many sensitive and engaged marks, viewpoints looking onto the world.

Source: The company Kubilai Khan investigations 's website

More information: kubilai-khan-investigations.com