Tragédie extended [transmission 2022]

A choreographic extract remodelled by the group Arna, coordination Collectif Arna, coordination of the artistic and pedagogical project  Karine Girard as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme 2020/2022. (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).  Transmission by Sandra Savin in collaboration with Karine Girard

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

The piece when it was created 

Tragédie 

Firstly produced 23 July 2012 at the cloister of the Carmes in Avignon, during Festival d’Avignon

Choreography: Olivier Dubois 

Piece for eighteen performers: Benjamin Bertrand, Arnaud Boursain, Marie-Laure Caradec, Sylvain Decloitre, Marianne Descamps, Virginie Garcia, Karine Girard, Carole Gomes, Inès Hernández, Isabelle Kürzi, Sébastien Ledig, Filipe Lourenço, Thierry Micouin, Jorge Moré Calderón, Loren Palmer, Rafael Pardillo, Sébastien Perrault, Sandra Savin 

Music: François Caffenne

Original duration: 1h30

The group

After years of working together on shared projects, the members of Arna founded their collective in 2017. Today Arna brings together dancers from highly diverse backgrounds and professions. Over time, the group has bonded, forging relationships that help to nourish the rich movement practice of each member. Every month, the dancers meet to cultivate their choreographic and improvisational skills through research experimentation and cultural events. Their performances include a video project on improvisation in public space, and an original piece Après (2021), written in autumn, with the support of Sylvère Lamotte. For their first entry to the Amateur Dance and Repertoire programme, the dancers are delighted to work with Olivier Dubois’ majestic and powerful piece Tragédie.  

The project

Created in 2012, Oliver Dubois’ Tragédie is a major work of contemporary dance. Set to the hypnotic, percussive music of Dubois’ collaborator François Caffenne, this piece for 9 dancers, will be adapted for the 15 members of the group, who have all seen the piece performed on various occasions. Wonderfully excessive, Tragédie is a kind of contemporary rave, rock trance and tribal gathering, combined into one dazzling visual explosion. It is also a moment of pure exhalation in movement: marching, jumping, bounding, running… with images siding through the dark and the fascination of flesh. The piece’s attraction lies in the way Dubois showcases questions of gender, diversity, identity and freedom. While the extract chosen does not contain nudity, the questions it raises still inform the dancers’ approach to Tragédie extended.