ARCHIVES 2011 / Levée des conflits

In Levée des conflits, 24 dancers start dancing, one after the other, a “choreographic canon,” like a powerful whirlwind that sweeps away everything in its path until the performers drop with exhaustion after they have struggled and frolicked in a spectacular outpouring of intensity. Dedicated to Roland Barthes and the “neutral” as a “desire to raise conflicts,” this show cancels them in a cycle that constantly sends the individual back to the group. Having to achieve 25 gestures, the 24 interpreters are part of a score in which the missing dancer – or the supernumerary gesture – introduces a “blank,” a void in space and time, that disturbs the unison on which so many ballets are based. This “blank” becomes the core of a real chain reaction, which goes crescendo until nothing is left of the muscle fuel. This “blank” also points out a place for the spectator, for his gaze, and draws him into the movement as well. Levée des conflits is a show whose centre would consist of a void, a black hole made of an unapproachable high pressure. For the Festival d\'Avignon, Boris Charmatz decided to have the show performed outdoors, at dusk. On the grass of the Bagatelle stadium, the spectators will form a circle around the spiral formed by the dancers. An infinite spiral that carries the spectators' gaze along, in a choreography that offers proximity and exchange, and tends to increase the trance effect of the show. JLP