PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE
A walk for eight poppers – 2012, length 60 min
PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE is a non-stop on-stage journey along a timeline for eight popping specialists, an explosive hip-hop dance style based on blocked, isolated, dislocated muscle movements. From compact mass to molecular chains, from ideally ordered formations resembling military parades to differentiation, the dancers proceed through a succession of evanescent states. Together they comprise a moving matter endowed with a collective memory, their past evolutions re-emerging cyclically, confronting oblivion, instinct and the desire of creation. Along this living timeline, in which the individual struggles alternately against a deterministic path and his own imprisonment, the hip-hop dance is broken down and transposed into a lateral movement that becomes enchanting. Played out against an electronic musical score with industrial overtones, PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE examines the various possible states of “togetherness” in an ever-changing society.
“Why is the dance beautiful? Answer: because it is an unfree movement. Because the deep meaning of the dance is contained in its absolute, ecstatic submission, in the ideal non-freedom.” In Yevgeny Zamyatin’s dystopia We (1920), the promenade is a march in rows of four, in which the state of synchronization appears like a victory over the uncertainty of Nature.
CAST
Choreography: Anne NguyenDancers: Sonia Bel Hadj Brahim or Cintia Golitin, Pascal Luce or Matthieu Pacquit, Claire Moineau, Blondy Mota-Kisoka, Sacha Négrevergne, Jessica Noita, Rebecca Rheny, Mélanie Sulmona / Understudy dancers: Bouzid Aït-Atmane, Yanka Pédron
Original music: Benjamin Magnin
Lighting design: Ydir Acef
PARTNERS
With the support of: l’aide à la production d’Arcadi; l’ADAMI; le Conseil général du Val-de-Marne; la Communauté de Communes Charenton – Saint-Maurice.Coproduction: Parc de la Villette; Centre de Danse du Galion d’Aulnay-sous-Bois; Les Théâtres Charenton – Saint-Maurice; Initiatives d’Artistes en Danses Urbaines (Fondation de France – Parc de la Villette, with the support of la Caisse des Dépôts and l’Acsé); Centre de développement chorégraphique du Val-de-Marne; CCN de La Rochelle / Poitou-Charentes; CCN de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne / Cie Käfig – dans le cadre de l’accueil studio.
With the partnership of: Centre national de la danse – mise à disposition de studio.
The par Terre Dance Company is funded by l’Aide pluriannuelle du ministère de la Culture / DRAC Ile-de-France, la Région Ile-de-France for “Permanence Artistique et Culturelle” and l’Aide au fonctionnement du Département du Val-de-Marne.
Anne Nguyen was awarded the 2013 SACD Nouveau Talent Choréographie prize and appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2015. She has been an associated artist to Chaillot – Théâtre national de la Danse from 2015 to 2018.
“There has been, for a while now, a feeling of a captivating singularity hanging around Anne Nguyen. No use searching any longer, this singularity finds its full expression in PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE, a dance piece in which, for the first time, hip hop movements become enchanting. Anne Nguyen shows her capacity to set up a real collective piece of work, extremely choreographic and deeply rooted in “the essence of hip hop”, which artistic meaning is fully revealed by the message and intentions."La Terrasse – Nathalie Yokel (September 2012)
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“Thrill of energyVästerbottens Folkblad – Katrin Sten (13 may 2012)
I seldom have seen a show that succeeds in maintaining a rhythm of such high intensity. The uninterrupted rhythm, full of energy, gives support to an hour of life crossing. This is reinforced by a minimalist scenography and light. The eight poppers of par Terre Dance Company plunge in Nguyen’s piece with great prowess. They are to be seen sideways and seldom look back at us.
[…] The dancers symbolize changes of life, obstacles, traps, happiness and tiredness through movements–the shiver of a hand, a foot looking for somewhere to hang on to or perfect synchronizations–thus managing to pass on the greatest feelings. This piece of great density creates a world of its own. Like being sucked into a black hole, the spectator is fully immersed in PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE. One quickly understands that what is dealt with is much deeper than daily life topics. Nguyen says to be inspired by physics and the spirit of her explorations is revealed on stage: looking for the role of Man in his environment… Alchemy and sensations are one and the same in this full circle.”
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