Oscar [transmission 2016]

Extrait remonté par le groupe Présences (Charleville-Mézières), responsable artistique Danièle Wuatelet, dans le cadre de Danse en amateur et répertoire (2015)

Choreography by Luc Petton
An extract remodelled by the group Présences (Charleville-Mézières), artistic manager Danièle Wuatelet, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2015) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

The group
With ten female dancers, the group Présences, created in 1982 in Charleville-Mézières (Ardennes) by Danièle Wuatelet, testifies to a long-term commitment. Under the leadership of this specialised teacher who practices dance with passion, the interpreters participate in regional projects and present shows at the Théâtre de Charleville-Mézières in partnership with the Pôle Danse (Sedan). The group rehearses in the hall of the Maison de la culture et des loisirs Ma Bohême, in Charleville, and also works in the Laboratoire chorégraphique de Reims.

The project
The choice of the piece Oscar is the result of the desire to take possession of a playful and sleek choreography inspired by the famous Danse des batons (Stick dance) by the German visual artist and choreographer Oskar Schlemmer (1888-1943), the inventor of the Triadisches Ballett. The relationship of the body with the object deploys a fascinating variety of nuances: tactile, relational, spatial, etc. He dances and generates dance in the same movement. Two extracts were selected from the series Tasseaux to allow the participation of the ten dancers of the group. Three artists, Céline Coessens, Tuomas Lahti and Cyrille Bochew, Luc Petton’s interpreters, worked with the group.

The choreographer
Luc Petton, a karate expert since his teenage years, discovered contemporary dance at the age of eighteen. During his years of learning, he first crossed the path of Moses Pendelton, the director of the company Pilobolus, and then that of Alwin Nikolais in 1980. An interpreter for Suzanne Linke at the Essen Folkwang Tanz Studio (Germany), he started to create his own works in 1985, the year when he set up his company with Marilén Iglesias-Breuker. In 2004, this amateur ornithologist launched into a daring undertaking by choreographing birds and dancers. La Confidence des oiseaux (2006), Swan (2012), with real swans, Light Bird (2014), with Manchurian cranes, testify to the precision and subtlety of this spectacular invitation to birds and dancers to share the stage for a most original dialogue.

Amateur Dance and Repertory is a companion program to amateur practice beyond the dance class and the technical learning phase. Intended for groups of amateur dancers, it opens a space of sharing for those who wish to deepen a practice and a knowledge of the dance in relation to its history.

Laurent Barré
Head of Research and Choreographic Directories
Anne-Christine Waibel
Research Assistant and Choreographic Directories
+33 (0)1 41 83 43 96
danse-amateur-repertoire@cnd.fr

Source: CN D

More information: https://www.cnd.fr/en/page/323-danse-en-amateur-et-repertoire-grant-programme