Là commence le ciel

S’appuyant sur ces idées humanistes, Julie Desprairies rencontre commerçants, habitants, scolaires, élus, employés du quartier des Gratte-Ciel et les invite à écrire ensemble une partition chorégraphique liée à son architecture particulière.

“Danse la Ville” is the theme of the 2006 Biennial. Julie Desprairies was invited to create a work for it and chose the Gratte-ciel district in Villeurbanne, famous for its innovative and social character. This 1930s complex, with its extraordinary visual coherence, was the laboratory of a city centre that grouped political (town hall), symbolic (theatre) and communal (homes, shops, schools, swimming pool) functions. The designers were at that time convinced that the innovative aspect of urban planning determined social relationships and that the maximum amount of comfort must be available to the lowest-income households. Based on these humanist ideas, Julie Desprairies met local shopkeepers, residents, schoolchildren, elected representatives and employees and invited them to write together a choreographic score relating to its special architecture. The subtle artwork of the complex, the stained glass windows of a stairwell, the rhythm of a frontage, the ironwork of a front door, the collective terraces, the curious interior corridors: all these elements nurtured the choreographic research and composition work.

The extract broadcasted shows Elise Ladoué, a dancer in the Compagnie des Prairies, dancing in unison, from the entrance door of the city hall, with six residents placed at the top of the towers. The staging of the bodies is dictated by the urban setting, that majestic perspective of apartment blocks rolling down opposite the city hall steps. Gestures as signals transmitted at a distance of 500 metres, the choreography is taken from a dance, unearthed from the city archives, written by a primary schoolteacher for her pupils during the Fêtes de la Jeunesse Villeurbannaises (Villeurbanne Youth Festival) in 1966.

Source : Julie Desprairies