East Land - Cabaret nomade [transmission 2015]

Extrait de la pièce de William Petit remontée par le groupe Litchis/Papayes (Marseille), coordinatrice Élise Tomatis, dans le cadre de “Danse en amateur et répertoire” (2014)

Choreography by William Petit 

A choreographic extract remodelled by the group Litchis/Papayes (Marseille), coordinator Élise Tomatis, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2014) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

The group
For more than ten years now, the classes given by Élise Tomatis at the Centre Social Del Rio, in the La Viste suburb of Marseille, give the lie to the cliché that assigns the exclusive practice of hip-hop to young people from the Marseille northern suburbs. Four years ago, these contemporary dance classes resulted in the formation of the group Litchis/Papayes. Some fifteen girls in their late teens and young adults work within this group in a weekly workshop, to produce their own choreographies, shown via dance network get-togethers on the territories. Participation in the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” project provides an opportunity for a new broadening of horizons, and already by the confrontation with a choreographic writing outside the group. 

The project
The author of East Land – Cabaret nomade, William Petit was directly involved in the project of the group Litchis/Papayes. Experienced in transmission techniques, the choreographer places the meeting at the heart of his concept of nomadism: relationships are just as intense with his female neighbours in Marseille as with people at the other end of the world. The chosen extract is the result of adaptations, at times marked by the turmoil specific to the context where it was played. It was necessary to switch from the participative three-frontal mechanism of the original piece to a classic separation between stage and auditorium, as well as to anchor the project to a set core of four interpreters. The aim of the process was to bring them closer to the conditions in which the original gestures had emerged.

The choreographer
William Petit created his company in 1991. Its name – Fabrik nomade – highlights the love of travel and meetings that drives the seething works of this choreographer. He is convinced that borders, those situations of rubbing against otherness, are the imaginary production point of greatly significant movements. East Land – Cabaret nomade is emblematic of this. Created in 2000, this piece does not merely recreate a night-time, musical and feverish memory, drawn from the frequent visits to a Serbian bar. In its original form, it draws into the dance the actual spectators, arranged around the artists. William Petit has great experience in the transmission of this piece, in a variety of contexts and countries.