La danse, l'art de la rencontre

This film takes us to Mali, Cambodia and Tunisia, where choreographers and dancers are asked to create duets at a symbolic site in their respective cities.

In 1981, choreographer José Montalvo met dancer Dominique Hervieu and began to create short playful works, like choreographic aphorisms, for her to perform. Together, they invented a unique vocabulary, fluid, rapid and precise. They formed the Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu in 1988. At once experimental and poetic, they created a hybrid world as a rampart against xenophobia, questioning the history and geography of dance in highly exuberant and imaginative works. This film takes us to Mali, Cambodia and Tunisia, where choreographers and dancers are asked to create duets at a symbolic site in their respective cities. From one continent to another, performance sequences are combined with documentary footage and the dreamlike images and poetic reflections of José Montalvo. The film focuses on the particular role of dance in each of the countries, underscoring the relationship between identity and cultural diversity. The result is not, strictly speaking, a documentary but rather a joyful collage in which dance becomes a focal point for encounters, and a mirror of our time.