ailleurs n’existe pas
stéphanie auberville
postponed
For the indigenous peoples of America, the earth is everywhere. Therefore, ‘elsewhere doesn’t exist’, says environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill, after spending two years living in a giant redwood tree to prevent it from being cut down.
It is in this relationship with the earth and with all the living beings that surround and compose us that choreographer Stéphanie Auberville has sought inspiration for her latest creation.
Accompanied on stage by a ceramicist as well as by musicians and other guests, Stéphanie Auberville invites us to venture with them into undefined areas. Landscapes that evoke the invisible, ecology, traditional dances, the dialogue between here and there (which, as mentioned, doesn’t exist), ghosts and spirits that may well decide to join us. An opportunity for them to dance with us, if only for a moment.
‘I grew up in the countryside, in the south. I remember the sensory nature of the landscapes, the strong colours, the smells. I remember how much I loved to run, swim, climb. I remember the warmth on my skin like a matrix of all the dances that flow through me today.
As a young adult, I escaped from a scientific course programme to dive into dance. I decided just like that, on a whim, and left. I first went through all the modern American dance techniques – Graham, Cunningham, Lester Horton, Limon, Trisha Brown – which I was interwove with classes in German technique, Kasuo Ohno’s Butoh and Elsa Wolliaston’s contemporary African dance.
The more I explored, the more my knowledge of movement diversified, the more dance unfolded before me thoughts for the body, the more infinite and joyful it became. I was a dancer. Until one day, it all seemed too formal and I began to doubt myself. I no longer knew what I was doing on the dance floor and thought of giving up.
At that moment, American postmodern dance hit me hard. I immersed myself in the work of the pioneers of Contact Improvisation, in the practices of Simone Forti, Deborah Hay and the research of Lisa Nelson and the Tuning Scores, which are still my anchor today.
Over these twenty years of exploration, these practices have transformed my work as a dancer, but there has always been the same thread running through it: the search for a dance, a dance for today.’
Stéphanie Auberville
Concept: Stéphanie Auberville
Music: Clara Levy and guests
Set design: Myriam Martinez
Advice: Myriam Van Imschoot
Interpretation: Stephanie Auberville, Clara Levy and guests-e-sPresentation: Charleroi danse, centre chorégraphique
de Wallonie-Bruxelles (Be), la Balsamine (Bruxelles, Be),
Coproduction: la Balsamine (Bruxelles, Be), Charleroi danse, centre chorégraphique de Wallonie-Bruxelles (Be)
Support: Ramdam (Sainte Foy-lès-Lyon,Fr), Studio Thor (Bruxelles,Be)
Photo : © Nour Beetch
