Mathilde Monnier
tempo 76

Dance / Ballet / Premiere in German-speaking countries

Dates
28.–29.9.2007

Details
Premiere:
28.09.2007
Wiederholung:
29.09.2007
Talk im Anschluss an die 2. Vorstellung

Location
Schauspielhaus Graz
Graz

Production specifics
DE

Koproduktion steirischer herbst, Festival Montpellier Danse 07, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Festival d’Automne Paris, Culturgest Lissabon, La Halle Aux Grains - Scène Nationale de Blois & Centre Chorégraphique de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon

Zu Gast im Schauspielhaus Graz

It is still highly popular among cheerleaders at least. And in classical ballet. In operetta, carnival, parades, musical revues … while in contemporary dance the choreographic unison, synchronised motion, is a rather taboo form. It has, to put it carefully, fallen out of fashion, under general suspicion of being mere dressage. And yet in other spheres, it never died out – above all when it is about spectacular finales: In classical dance as in musical, the corps de ballet still often has the task of providing the pretty, clone-like backdrop that highlights the stars.

In “tempo 76”, Mathilde Monnier, one of Europe’s great choreographers, explores the possibilities of unison from a standpoint that is both critical and jubilatory, not only conceiving it as a form of movement but also examining the question as to its harmony with the environment: Space becomes in unison with the gestures. What is the connection between the subject and his environment? Or is this connection an illusion?

The idea is to reinterpret a supposedly outmoded aesthetic form, to pull it out of its original context, and lend it new meanings. And, at the same time, to treat it in a light-hearted manner – while Ligeti’s music floats with unusually light steps over the green-grass stage with its mock naturalism. An artificial staging of controlled nature. For are we not clumsily out of tune with the world’s unison? Do we not try to clutch at the rhythm of a world that we have long since been unable to hold down? And so we try to adapt ourselves to an increasingly hostile and fast environment, its meaning ever harder to grasp and discern… The question of unison is, at least for Mathilde Monnier, by no means purely formal.

Choreografie: Mathilde Monnier
Bühnenbild, Ausstattung, Raumgestaltung: Annie Tolleter
Musik: György Ligeti
Lichtregie: Éric Wurtz
Kostüme: Dominique Fabrègue
Tänzerin / Tänzer: Yoann Demichelis
Tänzerin / Tänzer: Herman Diephuis
Tänzerin / Tänzer: Julien Gallée-Ferré
Tänzerin / Tänzer: Jung-ae Kim
Tänzerin / Tänzer: Natacha Kouznetsova
Tänzerin / Tänzer: Maud Le Pladec
Tänzerin / Tänzer: I-Fang Lin
Tänzerin / Tänzer: Éric Martin
Tänzerin / Tänzer: Rachid Sayet

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