DéBaTailles [transmission 2015]

Extrait de la pièce de Denis Plassard remontée par le groupe Ainsi Danse (Épinal), coordinatrice artistique Danielle Grandmougin, dans le cadre de “Danse en amateur et répertoire” (2014)

A choreographic extract remodelled by the group Ainsi Danse (Épinal), artistic coordinator Danielle Grandmougin, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2014) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

The group
In Épinal in Les Vosges region, for the past fifteen years and more, the group Ainsi Danse has occasionally organised workshops-training courses with guest dancers and choreographers (Daniel Larrieu, Hans Van den Broek, Jean-François Duroure, Annick Charlot, Accrorap company). It also organises contemporary balls. Originally an offshoot from the French Education Board’s workshops for school teachers, the eight members of Ainsi Danse are normally more than forty years old (and up to sixty). Their meeting with Denis Plassard thanks to his presence at the scène nationale d’Épinal, instilled in these women the desire to take on a very masculine piece and to take up the choreographic challenge concealed in DéBaTailles, an excellent incentive in terms of implication and technicity. 

The project
This is Denis Plassard’s fourth project with “Danse en amateur et repertoire”. The choreographer is a great fan of this context in which amateurs push back the limits of the “conveniences” of the workshops adapted to their level. Deceptively nonchalant, DéBaTailles conceals a great many situations, figures and relationships that are very tricky to reproduce. Also, its lack of any formal stability means it is far from a safe option for transmission purposes. Yet it is well and truly a written piece that must be recreated as closely as possible to the original, although it is full of very specific human landscapes and situations that nurture its creative process, joyfully uniting a young all-male band of contemporary and hip-hop dancers and circus artists.

The choreographer
A graduate from the Conservatoire national supérieur de Lyon, Denis Plassard created his solo Propos in 1990, and his company of the same name the following year. His works have often played on the link between word and movement, in relationships of quirkiness, mockery and humour. The choreographer enjoys bringing different aesthetics and universes into contact with each other. Created in 2008 and performed more than one hundred and twenty times, the piece DéBaTailles is the perfect example of this. Following work with hip-hop dancers, Denis Plassard decided to graft his experience of battle challenges onto the world of contemporary dance, without forgetting to include circus artists with whom, incidentally, he had already worked. The piece brims over with the playful and sprightly experience of its preparation.