Primitive
© Herman Sorgeloos

PROJECT

Primitive

For my new creation scheduled for the summer 2014, I would like to experiment on a more open and flexible form than my usual: I would like to create a piece able to be presented outside (in the nature, on the grass, on the ground, at the seaside, in parks) or inside (stage on stage or in industrial spaces such as hangars, old factories…) with the audience surrounding the performance space. I wish to abandon the theatre frame and to deal with natural circumstances (natural light, sound and noises, weather conditions…), putting the dancing body in unusual locations and creating an intimate and closer relationship with the audience. I will collaborate with Belgian artist and set designer Jozef Wouters who will create a seating for the audience, a circular shape hosting about 120 people, using differnet materials, mingling metal, wood and plastic, working on the friction between artificial and natural.

The piece has grown out of my meeting with the dancers Youness Khoukhou, Radouan Mriziga and José-Paulo Dos Santos. These three talented dancers interest me because of their youth, intelligence, movement quality, and diverse backgrounds and careers.

The piece revolves around not just the physical and abstract dimension of the dance itself, but also the culture, personality and history of these dancers. Together we will work on the vitality and the pure energy that emerge from the body in movement and on the ambivalence of this energy that can be both positive and destructive. Primitive represents to me a return to the origin, to the source, it is what comes from the past and what we’re made of. My choreographic work will be articulated around the idea of transformation, taking as starting point a primary gesture such as a pulsion, a rythm, a trembling or a breath, in order to create a more aticulated movement and a complex musicality. The piece will be based on the relationship between the three dancers and on a three-voice writing made in connection with the audience: the sense of community, sharing and the proximity between the dancers and the audience will be very important.

Claire Croizé