Pâquerette

Recorded 1st March 2017 at the CND

Ten years on, it is interesting to reread the reactions to Pâquerette, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea’s first work, following its premiere. The response to the arrival of this unique duo on the choreography scene was as ambiguous as the work they were presenting. Ultimately, the question is deciding from what perspective to view this challenging work: should it be seen as a ‘contra-sexual manifesto’, a choreographic fantasy, a précis of preciosity or a physical performance? All of these hypotheses are valid. Indeed, with Pâquerette it is not simply a question of what there might be to see, but of reassessing the frameworks that condition our vision. The anus, that violet carnation celebrated by Rimbaud, is by turns principle of (invisible) pleasure, an object of urges, dynamic crux, orifice and generator of movement. Thus the journey that they propose starts out from a concealing – borrowing from the iconography of the trance, of beatitude – enabling an unveiling, and then a paradoxical setting into motion. Along the way, a veritable cartography of the gaze is traced, seeking to expose bodies moved by other principles. Encompassing elementary physics in the form of thrusts, suspensions and penetrations, a choreographic exercise and erotic live show, Pâquerette has lost none of its disturbing ambivalence. Seeing the work again today makes it possible to reinterpret it in the light of subsequent projects, and to understand certain issues more clearly. It’s an enquiry, simultaneously literal and metaphorical, into dance through its orifices, gaps and unexplored zones.

”Ms. Bengolea, from Argentina, and Mr. Chaignaud, from France, have been working together since 2005. They are an inimitable pair, pinpointing an exhilarating place where fear meets  bravery. […] “Pâquerette” is hardly erotic; it’s more about sexual politics and levels of sensation. Ms. Bengolea and Mr. Chaignaud know how to get a viewer’s attention, yet their cheeky style of shock shakes you up in the best sense. You walk through the world a little more aware  of what it means to be alive. The metamorphosis, it seems, works two  ways.”

Gia Kourlas – The New York Times (Source: website of the company)