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

Claire Croizé

Claire Croizé graduated from P.A.R.T.S. in 2000. Her graduation project, Donne-moi quelque chose qui ne meure pas, was hailed by the French press as one of the discoveries of PARTS@PARIS. She quickly followed with the solo Blowing Up (2002), produced by PACT Zollverein (Essen), and the trio Runway #1 (2003), created for the Off Limits festival.

Claire started working under the support of wpZimmer (Antwerp) in 2005, and premiered at STUK (Leuven) with Affected, an internationally acclaimed performance consisting of three solos for three women on Gustav Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder. This was also the first collaboration with Jan Maertens, her regular light designer. In 2009, she pursued her work on Mahler’s music with The Farewell, which won the prestigious Prix Jardin d’Europe.

After her period at wpZimmer, Claire continued her choreographic work under the wing of Action Scénique and ECCE.

Credits

Choreography: Claire Croizé and Etienne GuilloteauDance: Youness Khoukhou, José-Paulo Dos Santos, Radouan MrizigaSet design: Jozef WoutersTechnical coordination and lights: Marc DewitArtistic assistant: Etienne GuilloteauCostume design: Anne-Catherine KunzProduction: Action ScéniqueCo-production: N SITU (Theater op de Markt, Terschellings Oerol Festival, Čtyři dny), CCN de Franche-Comté à Belfort, CDC Paris Réseau (micadanses, studio Le Regard du Cygne, Étoile du nord, Atelier de Paris – Carolyn Carlson), Atelier de Paris-Carolyn Carlson, Kunstencentrum BUDAIn collaboration with: wpZimmer and C-TaktWith the support of: the Flemish authorities