Faits et gestes

Accompanied by Bach counterpoints and orations by Froberger played on the harpsichord, Faits et gestes blends practical actions, abstract choreographic sequences and meaningful  gestures into a combination which sharpens the senses and models perception.

What differentiates a danced gesture from an action motivated by a practical aim such as the act of throwing, catching, falling or dodging? What schemas of locomotion are revealed by the production of these intentional movements and how can they be transformed into an evolving choreographic score? Picking up on the variety and precariousness of significations attached to the perception of the gesture, Noé Soulier creates a kaleidoscope of actions that oscillates between different regimes of signs, whether they be abstract, mimetic, or practical. The performers repeat, combine, divide, and arrange them in real time, creating a puzzle-like network of different clues that answer each other. The result is a negative space overflowing with signs. The Bach counterpoints and orations by Johann Jakob Froberger, played live on the harpsichord by Maude Gratton, give rise to solo moments – similar to zooming in on different parts of the body as they isolate inflections. Notes and gestures seem to enter into dialogue, exposing a language on the brink of articulation. The result is a rhetoric of the infra-thin, which filters into the bodies and space, recomposing a perceptive labyrinth in expansion.

Photo: © Noé Soulier