Si c'est un nègre / autoportrait

recorded at the CND 29 January 2004

What has been your rapport to date with the solo in your progress as a performer?

Sylvain Prunenec: Apart from solos that I have performed within shows, I wrote and performed a solo some years ago. After the path my performing career had taken, I felt the need: the need to re-examine myself, the work I had done with Odile Duboc, Dominique Bagouet and that image of “beautiful dance” which was difficult to shake off.

You decided to work with Faustin Linyekula. How did you make this choice?

Sylvain Prunenec: I wanted to work with an African choreographer in order to develop the rapports which I already had with dancers from many African countries. It was also the opportunity to discover a new choreographer; that was part of the adventure. I liked Faustin Linyekula’s work, and found it surprising. He mixes rage, gentleness and irony all at the same time.

Can you say what it means to go from “choreographing a solo for oneself” to creating a solo for someone else? How do you go about making this shift?

Faustin Linyekula: I had never choreographed a solo for anyone else. I had done one thirteen minutes long which I had only performed a few times. I don’t dance to be on my own. So this thirty-minute solo would be a first for me; I took it on as a new challenge. In my compositions intended for a number of performers, I have always worked with everyone as an individual, taking into account where they are coming from. In this case, I had the opportunity to take the encounter with one person further, as there was only one presence with which to fill the space.

Updating: March 2010