Boris Charmatz: old choreographies, new context
The eminent French choreographer Boris Charmatz will be in the spotlight no fewer than three times this week at the Kaaitheater. His acclaimed twenty-year-old shows Aatt enen tionon and À bras-le-corps will be joined by (untitled) (2000), the British-German artist Tino Sehgal’s last theatre production.
Even enfants terribles grow up. In 1992, two young dancer-choreographers, Boris Charmatz and Dimitri Chamblas, joined forces as the Association Edna production house. The two still dance À bras-le-corps today. Paganini’s virtuoso violin caprices ring out before and after this powerful, extremely physical choreography. As if they were at a boxing match, the audience sits around them on four sides. For Aatt enen tionon, however, the members of the audience walk around freely. The dancers – Charmatz, Lenio Kaklea, and Matthieu Burner – stand on a metal tower. The three, dressed only in white T-shirts, don’t see each other. Which leads to unexpected interaction. (untitled) (2000) is fourteen years old.
Its spiritual father, the British-German artist Tino Sehgal, no longer dances. Charmatz stands naked onstage and performs excerpts from renowned 20th-century choreographies: fragments of Russian ballet and works by Yvonne Rainer and Merce Cunningham.
Aatt enen tionon and À bras-le-corps are more than twenty years old. What is their relevance today?
Boris Charmatz: These are not revivals. Even when we were devising them – we were barely twenty at the time – we decided to let these shows become older and evolve. Since they were premiered, apart from a few breaks, we have performed these pieces every year. So they have become permanent shows, although the bodies have developed and the contexts in which they are performed have changed. Whether they are still relevant and why, I leave it to the spectator to judge.
Are these shows representative of your career?
Charmatz: They were my very first steps as a choreographer and dancer and are still important to me today. À bras-le-corps questions the concept of the duo, while Aatt enen tionon is a radical analysis of how a group of people can function – or, indeed, not. These days, the audience sees them in the light of other historic shows. So major later works such as Jérôme Bel’s The Show Must Go On, which also analyses the mechanism of the group, also have an impact on how Aatt enen tionon is perceived today.
(untitled) (2000) samples the history of modern dance.
Charmatz: Although the show, overall, contains numerous references to famous dance works, perhaps the most historic aspect is the fact that it is by Sehgal. Everything to do with him changed after this show. It was his last work for the theatre: after that, he went on to cause a stir in the visual arts. The shift in the context and reading of the piece fascinates me.
You now run the Musée de la Danse in Rennes and the Centre chorégraphique national de Rennes et de Bretagne. Not bad going.
Charmatz: I’m not nostalgic, but I admit that my latest shows bring me back to personal matters from my young days. The early 1990s were still very much marked by AIDS. Quite a few friends and colleagues died. Association Edna was a laboratory for the Musée de la Danse. We worked with artists such as Jean-Luc Moulène. The Museé de la Danse is also a laboratory, perhaps even for a real dance museum that will one day be as big as the MoMA.
(Photo © Marc Domage)
À bras-le-corps • 1 & 2/4, 19.00 + Aatt enen tionon • 1 & 2/4, 20.30 + (untitled) (2000) • 4 & 5/4, 20.30, €8/12/16, kaaitheater, square Sainctelettesquare 20, Brussel/Bruxelles, 02-201.59.59, www.kaaitheater.be
Even enfants terribles grow up. In 1992, two young dancer-choreographers, Boris Charmatz and Dimitri Chamblas, joined forces as the Association Edna production house. The two still dance À bras-le-corps today. Paganini’s virtuoso violin caprices ring out before and after this powerful, extremely physical choreography. As if they were at a boxing match, the audience sits around them on four sides. For Aatt enen tionon, however, the members of the audience walk around freely. The dancers – Charmatz, Lenio Kaklea, and Matthieu Burner – stand on a metal tower. The three, dressed only in white T-shirts, don’t see each other. Which leads to unexpected interaction. (untitled) (2000) is fourteen years old.
Its spiritual father, the British-German artist Tino Sehgal, no longer dances. Charmatz stands naked onstage and performs excerpts from renowned 20th-century choreographies: fragments of Russian ballet and works by Yvonne Rainer and Merce Cunningham.
Aatt enen tionon and À bras-le-corps are more than twenty years old. What is their relevance today?
Boris Charmatz: These are not revivals. Even when we were devising them – we were barely twenty at the time – we decided to let these shows become older and evolve. Since they were premiered, apart from a few breaks, we have performed these pieces every year. So they have become permanent shows, although the bodies have developed and the contexts in which they are performed have changed. Whether they are still relevant and why, I leave it to the spectator to judge.
Are these shows representative of your career?
Charmatz: They were my very first steps as a choreographer and dancer and are still important to me today. À bras-le-corps questions the concept of the duo, while Aatt enen tionon is a radical analysis of how a group of people can function – or, indeed, not. These days, the audience sees them in the light of other historic shows. So major later works such as Jérôme Bel’s The Show Must Go On, which also analyses the mechanism of the group, also have an impact on how Aatt enen tionon is perceived today.
(untitled) (2000) samples the history of modern dance.
Charmatz: Although the show, overall, contains numerous references to famous dance works, perhaps the most historic aspect is the fact that it is by Sehgal. Everything to do with him changed after this show. It was his last work for the theatre: after that, he went on to cause a stir in the visual arts. The shift in the context and reading of the piece fascinates me.
You now run the Musée de la Danse in Rennes and the Centre chorégraphique national de Rennes et de Bretagne. Not bad going.
Charmatz: I’m not nostalgic, but I admit that my latest shows bring me back to personal matters from my young days. The early 1990s were still very much marked by AIDS. Quite a few friends and colleagues died. Association Edna was a laboratory for the Musée de la Danse. We worked with artists such as Jean-Luc Moulène. The Museé de la Danse is also a laboratory, perhaps even for a real dance museum that will one day be as big as the MoMA.
(Photo © Marc Domage)
À bras-le-corps • 1 & 2/4, 19.00 + Aatt enen tionon • 1 & 2/4, 20.30 + (untitled) (2000) • 4 & 5/4, 20.30, €8/12/16, kaaitheater, square Sainctelettesquare 20, Brussel/Bruxelles, 02-201.59.59, www.kaaitheater.be
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