english presentation
Living treasure, Yachiyo Inoué IV, dancer of Jiuta maï, was 90 years old when, resident of the Kujoyama villa in Kyoto, I worked with her. His restrained power, the chiseled accuracy of his gestures deeply moved me.
During my stay at the Kathak Kendra in Delhi, elderly dancers dazzled me.
The free dance of the early 20th century celebrates all stages of life, and ritual dances are not fazed by maturity.
In What age brings to dance #resonances, Susan Buirge, Malavika, Elisabeth Schwartz, Elsa Wolliaston, speak and dance in incandescent places of nature.
On our stages, most dancers die as they get older.
For What age brings to dance, I question artists in choreographic art who have resisted this obliteration and are dancing after 70 years. These artists practice different styles of dance on multiple stages and in different geographical areas.
I spoke with Germaine Acogny, Malou Airaudo, Odile Azagury, Dominique Boivin, Susan Buirge, Dominique Dupuy, Françoise Dupuy-Michaud, Jean Guizerix, Malavika, Jean Rochereau, La Tati, Thierry Thieû Niang, Elisabeth Schwartz, Elsa Wolliaston.
With video artist Jacques Hœpffner, we have chosen to film these artists in their workplace and in natural spaces.
The position vis-à-vis age, the passage of time and experiences of the body differs greatly according to cultures, aesthetics, dance techniques and the place of artists in a given society.
The singular approach of this project is anchored in what founded my personal history with certain dances – classical dance, contemporary and post-modern dances in Europe and the United States, but also dances that are essentially danced by women. : the Raqs el sharqi dance in the Near East and the Maghreb, the Jiuta maï in Japan or even dances which have particular specificities according to the gender (assigned or chosen) of the performer: Flamenco and Kathak from India from North.
In youth, virtuosity is often externalized; with age, this virtuosity does not diminish but is internalized. It is this passage, from a skin-deep vibration to a vibrant interiority that has struck me many times. With age, gestures need less to be thrown like dust in the public eye. They condense, filling the artist's body, and no longer need gesture evidence to appear. It is this quintessence of movement that in turn thrills the audience.
Ageism, a word coined by gerontologist Robert Butler in 1969, refers to all attitudes, stereotypes and discriminatory practices towards people categorized as old. This discrimination is invisible in the world of dance art.
If only the poetics of the young gesture is valued, the dance is cut off from other poetics.
What age brings to dance asks artists what they bring into play from a perceptual, kinesthetic, artistic point of view to bring other poetics of gesture to life. Opening up to other poetics is also a political gesture.