Removing

L’observation des mouvements d’autrui peut susciter des expériences proprioceptives et kinesthésiques. Removing explore cet aspect de la perception du mouvement en travaillant à partir de mouvements définis par des buts pratiques : frapper, lancer…

Observation of others’ movements can trigger proprioceptive and kinaesthetic experiences. Removing explores this aspect of the perception of movement by working from movements defined by practical aims: hitting, throwing, avoiding, catching, etc. Unlike movements that are geometrically or mechanically defined, this is a vocabulary of gestures that the dancers share with the public. We rarely think of forming a line with our leg or of letting our arm drop, whereas most of our everyday movements are motivated by practical aims: reach a place, seize an object, avoid furniture, etc. The use of a common vocabulary is a means of accentuating empathy and kinaesthetic resonance. If we simply carry out these actions motivated by a practical aim, the experience of the movement will tend to be effaced by the recognition of the aim. To focus attention on the movement, I have removed the clues allowing it to be identified for sure. We thus distance ourselves from the literal carrying out of the action or mime. For example, one of the sequences is based on a series of blows, but the blows are given with unusual parts of the body on imaginary objects. We thus retain for the performer the definition of movement by the practical aim while removing for the observer what makes the identification of this aim possible. This is a means of capturing the motor characteristics linked to the action of hitting: dynamics, impact, speed, physical investment, affect, etc., while drawing attention to the actual movement and not to the achievement of the aim. We have also created sequences of movements consisting solely of preparations for other movements: gaining momentum before jumping, change in direction or a rotation. The dancer is continually projected towards movements that never take place. This continual ellipsis makes the dancer’s intention visible as it affects the gestures that precede the achievement of the aim. The dancer’s intention is in excess of the movement carried out, and this excess, this overflowing of intention onto action, transforms the movement and reveals how the dancer is projected towards their target aim. I also explored actions oriented towards the bodies of others by drawing inspiration from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. When we observe a combat, it is nearly always impossible to understand what each fighter is trying to do if we do not understand this martial art. If we do, we see that the movements do not evoke a fight but rather a sensual entwining or an extremely precise action on the other’s body, the aim of which remains obscure. We have reproduced as accurately as possible a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu combat, but unlike in actual combats, the two dancers collaborate in the carrying out of this sequence of movements. The main actions are catching, pushing, pulling, etc. The two dancers restrain each other mutually and it is this restraint that generates the movement. The composition is based on different levels of unison, on different ways in which sequences of movements can have shared parameters: the same geometric structure in space, the same action type, the same part of the body involved, etc. Resemblances can be extremely strong or, just the opposite, barely perceptible. They allow different types of counterpoint to be created (duo + solo, duo + solo + solo, duo + duo, etc.) and the spectator’s attention to be drawn without imposing any specific interpretation.