Democracy

If the music is imposing, if it literally lays down the law, then what choice does dance have? Follow the rhythm or attempt insurrection? In DEMOCRACY, Maud Le Pladec puts the body at the heart of the political debate for a dance “in the public interest.”

If the music is imposing, if it literally lays down the law, then what choice does dance have? Follow the rhythm or attempt insurrection? In DEMOCRACY, Maud Le Pladec puts the body at the heart of the political debate for a dance “in the public interest.”

With four drummers and five dancers, Maud Le Pladec continues her work on the confrontation of music and dance. A hard-hitting confrontation that lives up to the two musical pieces: Dark Full Ride, by the American, Julia Wolfe, a pulsating composition that she compares to “a shout, an invitation to experience the unstable nature of the collective, social or political body and the contradictory forces that drive it.” The next score is by the Italian, Francesco Filidei, with the idea of bringing together two aesthetics: American post-minimalism and the European contemporary music scene. That covers the form of the work.
But DEMOCRACY goes beyond form because the stakes are in fact political. The title is not without implications, in direct reference to the ideas of philosopher Miguel Abensour in Pour une philosophie politique critique (2009). Maud Le Pladec seizes this opportunity to spotlight “the difference between the legal-political system and what we commonly call democracy, as opposed to Demos, which is a process of individualisation, an experience of the subjective. That’s what interests me. I wanted to question the balance of power between music and the group, or community. By asking what it means to be together, I wanted to ask how we revolt against authority. At what point does it become illegal? What does it mean to go against the public interest?”
So what is the connection between these questions of a political nature and the confrontation between dance and music? The choreographer sees a direct relationship: “The music is very strong, even stronger than the bodies. It’s imposing; it is the seat of power and lays down the law. How do we react? Is energy synonymous with freedom?” On stage, five dancers and four percussionists will ask the question: who leads the dance?