Men's Dance

Steve Reich’s rhythm leaves the field open to the music of the bodies. The instruments of this choreographic orchestra are the dancers, themselves. Paradoxically, they appear as powerful as they are fragile and sensual, never reaching or embracing the invisible bodies they search. Masterful, exposed, fragile and powerful, unrestrained and controlled, rebellious bodies with hearts on edge, the dancers are thrown in the paths of the movement, their own breathing acting as a suction and shifting device. Flowingly, the lines of the bodies break mid-way to spring forth in acute accelerations. At the point where they are threatened, the angles curve; when the curves are listless, they rear up. Markings are forgotten. Like in an exorcism, the dancers lash out at selected images and succumb to life. Can dance alone recount the disconcerting pleasure of being?.

Dominique Passet Baudelot

Choreography: Jean-Christophe Maillot
Music: Steve Reich, musique pour Morceaux de bois - 1973
Additional music: Daniel Teruggi, extrait d’Instants d’hiver - 1993
Scenography: Dominique Drillot
Costumes: Jean-Christophe Maillot and Jean-Michel Lainé
Lighting: Dominique Drillot
Video assistant: Gilles Papain
Duration: 12 min

Premiere held on December 30th 2002, Grimaldi Forum Monaco