People [transmission 2022]

A choreographic extract remodelled by the Groupe de recherche EMD, artistic coordinator Geneviève Choukroun, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme 2020/2022 (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing). Transmission by Agnès Canova.

Presented on 18 June 2022, Maison de la danse in Lyon.

The piece when it was created 

People

Firstly produced 30 April 2005 at Espace Philippe-Auguste in Vernon

Choreography: Sylvain Groud

Piece for four performers: Aurélie Genoud, Agnès Canova, Cyril Geeroms, Sylvain Groud

Music: Frédéric Borde

Original duration: 20 minutes

The group

Based in Alès (Gard, France) this group was founded in 2015 under the direction of choreographer and teacher, Geneviève Choukroun. It is composed of eight students, from 13 to 17 years of age, from the municipal school for dance and the performing arts, at the Alès conservatory. Its members are bound by a shared desire to hone their skills, explore, improvise and develop end-of-year performances. They perform for musical events and at European Heritage Days, and participate in an exchange programme with musicians from the regional conservatory. These young dancers are expert in contemporary and jazz, and some are also skilled in classical dance. They train and rehearse not only at the Conservatory, but also at the Cratère d’Alès studio and the Verrerie, a national circus arts theatre. This is the first time the group has performed as part of the Amateur Dance and Repertoire programme.      

The project

“We dance against each other.” This is how choreographer, Sylvain Groud, describes People; a piece created for amateur dancers in 2004. It speaks of the individual within the group and the marvellous fusion that can arise when a community comes together to dance. For this piece, the dancers must focus on two key problematics: the first concerning questions of identity, intimacy, relationships with others and the effects of close proximity between beings; and the second regarding the transplantation of this work into different urban contexts. Sylvain Groud’s assistant Agnès Canova is leading the reconstruction of an extract from this piece.