A UNIQUE FAMILY
CLAIRE DURAND-DROUHIN (FRANCE)
* world premiere
* 20 years ONE
27.05.2022, Boris Hristov House of Culture
Start: 19:30
The beauty of dance can sprout from the most bizarre rendezvous of dancers from different, even opposing margins of society.
UNE FAMILLE SINGULIÈRE shows us what would happen if a psychiatric patient and a person of outstanding talent in sport, science, or art, for example, were brought together in the same place. It is a participatory performance that comes not as a reserved territory for virtuoso dancers, but as an open invitation for local participants to get involved.
French choreographer Claire Durand-Drouin brings together 7 professional dancers from her company Traction with 7 local dancers from different communities. This extraordinary encounter, which would not have happened otherwise, relies on the provocation of stepping out of the comfort zone and the psychological and physical interaction between strangers to find new forms of dance. Participants will have to shake off their assumptions and habits of working with the body and will form an unexpected family on stage. Its members didn’t have the opportunity to know each other earlier, but they might do something beautiful together now.
Human oddities are on display, singular and taking off in unexpected directions. Coming from the margins of society or simply too far apart, professional dancers and local participants will find a new movement language. In it, beauty is not necessarily a function of the dancer’s physical virtuosity, but rather of trust in others. It is not a normative prescription for body movements, as it is in ballet, for example. And while masterful performances are impressive, Claire sees beauty as something simple and touching, even if imperfect.
A defining characteristic of Claire Durand-Drouhin’s approach is her work with amateurs and people with physical limitations and “behavioral disorders” that some would label as “disabilities.” She seeks the depth of art and challenges the rules of who can or cannot be on stage.
“And in this dance, it is not simply a question of displaying bodies but to compose the whole set of forces which inspire me. It’s through working on an artistic form that I understand that I am making a political gesture.”
– Claire Durand-Drouhin
CLAIRE DURAND-DROUHIN
After graduating from the London Contemporary Dance School in 1998, Claire Durand-Drouhin joined Philippe Saire’s company in Lausanne and Jacky Auvray’s company in Caen.
From 2000 to 2009, she accompanied Nieke Swennen in the company IN VIVO, working regularly in psychiatric hospitals and participating in several creations including Intiem, Presto Jubilato and La Chambre D’ange.
She created the Traction company in 2007, she works every month in the psychiatric hospital of Limoges and is also involved in artistic actions in prisons (prisons of Limoges, Val d’Oise, Versailles, Vivonnes…). In 2010 she created CHAMBRE 10, in 2013 – VIE DE FAMILLE, in 2016 – WHO’S BACH?, and in 2018 – PORTRAIT DE GROUPE AVEC FEMME(S).
She also directs documentaries for television (Fr3, Planète…), in partnership with Pyramide Production. Blanche-Neige en prison (2011) is a 52′ documentary about a dance workshop with a group of women inmates of the Poitiers-Vivonne prison. In 2013, a second documentary entitled Seconde Danse follows Beatrice’s journey out of prison and back into dance. Today she has just finished her third documentary (Fr 3) Le monde autrement, recounting her encounter with patients with behavioural problems with whom she has been dancing for five years.
CREDITS
Choreography: Claire Durand-Drouhin
Performers: Mathieu Boudon, Adalberto Fernandez Torres, Aipeur Foundou, Inés Hernández, Delphine Lanson, Jyotsna Liyanaratne, Haruka Miyamoto, Yann Pechaux, Aurélie Pommier, Jean-Pierre Rigondeau, Guillaume Suarez Pazos
Music: MEUTE / Charles Amblard
Photography: Nora Hougenade
Partners: DSN — Dieppe Scène Nationale, CCM de Limoges — Scène conventionnée pour la danse, DRAC NouvelleAquitaine, DRAC Normandie, Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, APEI Dieppe, OARA
