Keep calm

This film tells the creation process of Michel Schweitzer’s performance “Keep Calm”, presented as part of the Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis 2017 festival. Michel Schweizer invited children aged 9 to 12 to come together for a creation exclusively intended for adults. He started writing work with them in a series of workshops designed to reflect on their relationship with the adult world. 

These workshops resulted in the constitution of three lists of sentences commonly developed, negotiated and shared by all. Lists of what they can do, what they know and think about adults. At the same time as this work of reflection and writing, Michel Schweizer brings children to the artistic field through a playful theatrical practice that allows them training in observation and public address, and prepares them to be the more comfortable and as free as possible for the performance. During the performance, adults are invited to sit down, sit still and listen. Each child chooses the adult they want to speak to, grabs the microphone connected to that person’s headset and starts talking to them, looking them in the eyes. The adult finds himself face to face with the child who observes him and addresses him in an unprecedented way. A device that allows children to see and hear differently, and thereby also questions the place of the film spectator.  Precious insight into the world of 9-12 year olds, this project surprises, disturbs and entertains in what it reveals and reveals about ourselves.