Le projet zero degrees est né du désir de Sidi Larbi  Cherkaoui de créer un duo avec le chorégraphe et danseur anglo-bengali  Akram Khan. Tous deux élevés en Europe dans une famille musulmane, ils  s’inspirent de cette rencontre de cultures et combinent la complexité du  kathak indien à la célérité et la précision de mouvements  contemporains, un mélange de tradition, de science-fiction et de réalité  contemporaine.

En invitant Antony Gormley à réaliser la scénographie et Nitin Sawhney à composer la musique interprétée en direct, zero degrees  est devenu un lieu de transformation : le point où une chose se  métamorphose en une autre, la zone grise où une chose évolue vers la  suivante, la température – 0 °C – où l'eau se solidifie en glace, la  ligne ténue où l'on passe de vie à trépas. Le spectacle suit Cherkaoui  et Khan au cours d'un voyage d'exploration, à la recherche du point de  référence, de la source, du zéro au cœur de la vie. Inspirés par leur  double identité respective, les deux artistes partent en quête de ce  point central par le biais de pôles opposés : devenir/mourir,  lumière/obscurité, ordre/chaos. Zero degrees traite des frontières et de leur nature floue.

Avec pour seul décor deux mannequins réalistes, des répliques de  Cherkaoui et de Khan, le vide de la scène permet au public de percevoir  de nombreux symboles de division et d'unité dans la chorégraphie. Conçus  comme des alter ego, les mannequins sont parfois des oppresseurs,  parfois des gardes ou des cadavres. Zero degrees aborde la fragilité de la vie humaine et la complémentarité du yin et du yang.

Source : Eastman

En savoir plus : www.east-man.be

Akram Khan is one of the most celebrated  and respected dance artists of today. In just over 19 years he has  created a body of work that has contributed significantly to the arts in  the UK and abroad. His reputation has been built on the success of  imaginative, highly accessible and relevant productions such as XENOS, Until the Lions, Kaash, iTMOi (in the mind of igor), DESH, Vertical Road, Gnosis and zero degrees.

As an instinctive and natural collaborator, Khan has been a magnet to  world-class artists from other cultures and disciplines. His previous  collaborators include the National Ballet of China, actress Juliette  Binoche, ballerina Sylvie Guillem, choreographers/dancers Sidi Larbi  Cherkaoui and Israel Galván, singer Kylie Minogue, indie rock band  Florence and the Machine, visual artists Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley  and Tim Yip, writer Hanif Kureishi and composers Steve Reich, Nitin  Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost.

Khan’s work is recognised as being profoundly moving, in which his  intelligently crafted storytelling is effortlessly intimate and epic.  Described by the Financial Times as an artist “who speaks tremendously  of tremendous things”, a highlight of his career was the creation of a  section of the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony that was  received with unanimous acclaim.

As a choreographer, Khan has developed a close collaboration with  English National Ballet and its Artistic Director Tamara Rojo. He  created the short piece Dust, part of the Lest We Forget programme, which led to an invitation to create his own critically acclaimed version of the iconic romantic ballet Giselle.

Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career  including the Laurence Olivier Award, the Bessie Award (New York Dance  and Performance Award), the prestigious ISPA (International Society for  the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award, the Fred and Adele  Astaire Award, the Herald Archangel Award at the Edinburgh International  Festival, the South Bank Sky Arts Award and eight Critics’ Circle  National Dance Awards. Khan was awarded an MBE for services to dance in  2005. He is also an Honorary Graduate of University of London as well as  Roehampton and De Montfort Universities, and an Honorary Fellow of  Trinity Laban.

Khan is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells and Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London and Curve, Leicester.

Source: Akram Khan Company

More information: akramkhancompany.net

Author, filmmaker and video artist Charles Picq (1952-2012) entered working life in the 70s through theatre and photography. A- fter resuming his studies (Maîtrise de Linguistique - Lyon ii, Maîtrise des sciences et Techniques de la Communication - grenoble iii), he then focused on video, first in the field of fine arts at the espace Lyonnais d'art Contemporain (ELAC) and with the group « Frigo », and then in dance.
   On creation of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon in 1980, he was asked to undertake a video documentation project that he has continued ever since. During the ‘80s, a decade marked in France by the explosion of contemporary dance and the development of video, he met numerous artists such as andy Degroat, Dominique Bagouet, Carolyn Carlson, régine Chopinot, susanne Linke, Joëlle Bouvier and regis Obadia, Michel Kelemenis. He worked in the creative field with installations and on-stage video, as well as in television with recorded shows, entertainment and documentaries.

His work with Dominique Bagouet (80-90) was a unique encounter. He documents his creativity, assisting with Le Crawl de Lucien and co-directing with his films Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux and 10 anges. in the 90s he became director of video development for the Maison de la Danse and worked, with the support of guy Darmet and his team, in the growing space of theatre video through several initiatives:
       - He founded a video library of dance films with free public access. This was a first for France. Continuing the video documentation of theatre performances, he organised their management and storage.
       - He promoted the creation of a video-bar and projection room, both dedicated to welcoming school pupils.
       - He started «présentations de saisons» in pictures.
       - He oversaw the DVD publication of Le tour du monde en 80 danses, a pocket video library produced by the Maison de la Danse for the educational sector.

       - He launched the series “scènes d'écran” for television and online. He undertook the video library's digital conversion and created Numeridanse.

His main documentaries are: enchaînement, Planète Bagouet, Montpellier le saut de l'ange, Carolyn Carlson, a woman of many faces, grand ecart, Mama africa, C'est pas facile, Lyon, le pas de deux d'une ville, Le Défilé, Un rêve de cirque.

He has also produced theatre films: Song, Vu d'ici (Carolyn Carlson), Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux, 10 anges, Necesito and So schnell, (Dominique Bagouet), Im bade wannen, Flut and Wandelung (Susanne Linke), Le Cabaret Latin (Karine Saporta), La danse du temps (Régine Chopinot), Nuit Blanche (Abou Lagraa), Le Témoin (Claude Brumachon), Corps est graphique (Käfig), Seule et WMD (Françoise et Dominique Dupuy), La Veillée des abysses (James Thiérrée), Agwa (Mourad Merzouki), Fuenteovejuna (Antonio Gades), Blue Lady revistied (Carolyn Carlson).

Source: Maison de la Danse de Lyon