Jérôme Bel Véronique Doisneau (film)

[Dance]

Three names, three pieces (one of which is a film version) each of which reveals a state of Jérôme Bel’s thoughts on choreographic creation. Cédric Andrieux, Véronique Doisneau and Pichet Klunchun and myself are portraits in the true sense of the word. These pieces seek to capture the dancer’s uniqueness, and their relationship with their practice. These pieces give us a documentary, fully embodied look at those who make dance happen.
The first portrait hinges upon Cédric Andrieux’s trajectory. Trained in contemporary dance, he went on to become one of Merce Cunningham’s dancers before entering the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon. His experience forms a micro-history of dance. Alternating between dance and testimonial, Cédric Andrieux transposes the relationship of a body with the codes, gestures and learning processes which have shaped it.
The second portrait is dedicated to Veronique Doisneau, dancer at the Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris. Alone onstage, close to retirement, she casts a retrospective and subjective glance on her career as a dancer at the heart of this institution. Through words and gestures, she conjures up an otherwise invisible world.
Lastly, in Pichet Klunchun and myself, the portrait is a double one. The cultural distance with the traditional Thai dance performer demands a theatrical apparatus which leaves room for dialogue and alterity. Jérôme Bel and Pichet Klunchun stand face to face, both of them confronted with this reciprocal gulf in terms of codes and gestures. Step by step, they talk to each other, show each other, explain the movements, their meanings, and the way of seeing and doing them. From one tradition to another, what emerges is a fascinating mise en abyme of how dance is made, thought and conceived.