Déroutes [transmission 2017]

Extrait remonté par le groupe de danse amateur du programme Format (Meyras), responsable artistique Sophie Gérard, dans le cadre de Danse en amateur et répertoire (2016)

An extract remodelled by the amateur dance group of the Format programme (Meyras), artistic manager Sophie Gérard, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2016) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

The group
With some fifteen adults-dancers, the amateur dance group of the project Format or the creation of a dance territory, created in 2014 in Meyras, Auvergne, under the leadership of Sophie Gérard, proposes weekly classes on a variety of contemporary techniques. Wishing to become involved in the creative process, they participated for the first time in a piece entitled Heroes by Groupenfonction, and wish to include in a sustainable manner the creation of shows in their programme of activities.  

The project
Déroutes, the work choreographed in 2002 by Mathilde Monnier based on Georg Büchner’s unfinished short story Lenz, highlights walking as the basis for dance, thus giving direct, simple access to the group. Originally rooted in one-on-one work with each dancer, the show, transmitted by Enora Rivière and Thibaut Kaiser, also singles out the identity of the amateurs participating in the project. The geographic context of Format, in the Ardèche region of France, is also a means of nurturing the research and of better understanding Lenz by walking in the midst of nature. 

The choreographer
A figure on the choreographic scene since the 1980s and director of the Centre choré- graphique national de Montpellier from 1994 to 2014, Mathilde Monnier has left the beaten track, taking the risk of widely extending her references with works around Africa such as Pour Antigone (1993), around autism in L’Atelier en pièces (1996) and around the group and the individual with Les Lieux de là (1998). She also enjoys comparing her points of view with those of writers (Christine Angot), philosophers (Jean-Luc Nancy) and singers (Katerine). She was named director of the Centre national de la danse in Pantin in 2014.