Clocks & Clouds

Hovering between chaos and structure, Noé Soulier explores a decentralized approach to choreography which he then uses to guide the flow of a large group of dancers. Similar to a flock of birds, the performers interact with each other as part of a wider movement, setting in motion a controlled meshing effect in which the common emerges from the singular.

Clocks and clouds. This was the formula that the philosopher of science Karl Popper used to explain the two major principles that regulate physical reality. On the one hand, we have phenomena which are predictable and regular and, on the other hand, those which are subject to indeterminate forces. These reflections were a source of inspiration for the composer György Ligeti, the compositions of whom oscillate between chaos and structure. This is the case in relation to his Chamber concerto (1969), and it is this piece which the choreographer uses as his starting point. For the purpose of this project, Noé Soulier, accompanied by a large group of students from the CNSMD in Paris and the Cndc in Angers, has created composition tools which enable movement to be generated by a group. Similar to an equation consisting of several unknowns, the score is built up in real time, in a to-and-fro process between the decisions made by the members of the group and the collection of written movements. Like a swarm of fleeting intentions and chain reactions, the directions taken by the dancers answer to a decentralized logic which reacts to the slightest impulse… forming lines, waves, dispersions and overlap.

Photo : © Anne-Elise Grosbois