Projet de la matière [transmission 2015]

Extrait de la pièce d’Odile Duboc remontée par la compagnie Équinoxe (La Rochelle), coordinatrices artistiques Marion Bati et Armelle Quentin, dans le cadre de “Danse en amateur et répertoire” (2014)

Choreography by Odile Duboc
A choreographic extract remodelled by the company Équinoxe (La Rochelle), artistic coordinators Marion Bati (artistic director of Les Éclats, a regional centre dedicated to contemporary dance in Poitou-Charentes), Armelle Quentin (project coordinator for the company Équinoxe) , as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2014) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

The group
Based in La Rochelle, the company Équinoxe is the result, nearly five years ago, of the training courses proposed by the Éclats Chorégraphiques (who also organise a festival in the Poitou-Charentes region). Boasting some ten members, this artists’ collective is driven by sensitivities that go beyond the sole reference to dance. With its extreme diversity allowing it to treat a variety of registers, it first preferred to elaborate its own collective choreographies, mainly intended for street performances. In 2013, a revival of Dominique Petit’s Tournesols was its first participation in the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme, respecting a fixed choreographic writing, while Projet de la matière proposes today a style of writing that is less strict. 

The choreographer
Odile Duboc (1941-2010) exerted a considerable influence on contemporary dance. As from 1983, she co-directed the company Contre Jour with the light designer Françoise Michel and, between 1990 and 2008, she directed the CCN de Belfort, in which a large number of the interpreters feature today amongst the leading innovative choreographers. Her work curiously relates to the incorporation of feeling of the dynamic link to the elements. In 1993, Projet de la matière was emblematic of this aesthetics less concerned with formal rendering than with depth of movement. The patient elaboration of this piece involved the contact with objects of original material texture and then, in their absence, the restoration of the movements thus inspired.

The artist
Stéphane Imbert leads the transmission of Projet de la matière to Équinoxe. He joined Odile Duboc in 1990, and took part in the creation of this work, as in all the creations, up to 2000 before becoming the assistant in charge of teaching and management of revivals, the only permanent member of the CCN de Belfort. Even if amateurs cannot dedicate as much time as professionals, he tries to evoke the same emotions within them, and the same experience for creation. The aim is to relive a uniquely individual experience of sensation by a search for letting-go, a quest for authenticity, an acceptance of gravity. A musical instant of the body is expected, from the passage of one suspension to another suspension.