On September 24th 2008, at the Angers CNDC (National Choreographic Development Centre), the choreographer and dancer Boris Charmatz created La Danseuse malade, in partnership with the actress Jeanne Balibar. From June 2007 up to the eve of the dress rehearsal, Sima Khatami followed the work process resulting in this piece based on the writings of Tatsumi Hijikata (1928-1986), the founder, with Kazuo Ohno, of Butoh or the “obscure body” dance.

 More than the actual piece, of which the film only shows, in no particular order, a few scenes in the course of elaboration, more than the actual process – though he introduces us into its intimacy, with warm-ups, discussions, attempts and rehearsals – it is Hijikata’s universe and his thinking that Bonhomme de vent discovers. Yet, by having his calligraphy texts read aloud by Ayumi Morita or carried by the voices of Charmatz and Balibar, by inserting, between the work images, large extracts from Nombril et la Bombe Atomique (Navel and A-Bomb) (1960), a short film by Eikoh Hosoe produced with Hijikata’s participation, Sima Khatami’s film remains faithful to Boris Charmatz’s intention for this project: “My idea is not to make Butoh from these hallucinatory texts as they already bear Butoh inside them […] But that the strength of his writings, which must be as though offered up to reading, leave us free in the very gesture of carrying them”.

The sources of this duet, pairing together Boris Charmatz and Jeanne  Balibar, are translations of texts by Tatsumi Hijikata, founder of  Butoh, a contemporary Japanese dance form developed in the 1960s. “La  danseuse malade” is not an adaptation of a text by Hijikata, nor is it a  dramatization of his texts, but rather a parallel creation which echoes  the power of the Japanese writer, just as “Con forts fleuve” (1999)  worked with John Giorno's texts. The presence of a truck on the stage  alludes to the machines in “Régi” (2005). Now, however, the  machine-vehicle constrains and confines the body. In the selected  extract, the multiplication of projected images on different scales is  evocative of one of the foundational elements of Butoh: its relation to  the cosmos. Like Russian dolls, the macrocosm always mirrors the  microcosm. The living being is located in-between: both as a miniature  of the larger and a big version of the smaller universe. By using video  images projected onto the surface of the vehicle, the play of images and  scales becomes complex: the video image offers a synchronized and  enlarged vision of the interior space of the vehicle which is itself in  motion, rotating round its axis on the stage. Having observed the stage  occupied with visual material, attention shifts to the confined space of  the driver's cabin, an intimate place and the site of a micro-event.

Source : Boris Charmatz

More information : borischarmatz.org

Born in Chambéry (France), on January 3, 1973

After studying at the Ecole de Danse de l'Opéra de Paris and at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon, Boris Charmatz was engaged by Régine Chopinot to dance Ana (1990) and Saint-Georges (1991). In 1992, he was asked by Odile Duboc to join her company Contrejour to dance 7 jours/7 villes (1992), Projet de la matière (1993) and Trois Boléros (1996). He also took part in the premiere of K de E, choreographed by Olivia Grandville and Xavier Marchand (1993).

In 1992, he co-founded edna association with Dimitri Chamblas. Following the premieres of works the pair choreographed together À bras-le-corps (1993) and Les Disparates (1994), Charmatz began creating his own works: Aatt enen tionon (1996), a vertical piece for three dancers, herses (une lente introduction) (1997), a piece for five dancers and a cellist set to music by Helmut Lachenmann. In 1999, he choreographed Con forts fleuve (1999), a group piece performed to texts by John Giorno and musics by Otomo Yoshihide. In 2002, he premiered héâtre-élévision, a provocative installation piece influenced by russian Matryoshka nesting dolls that was designed to be seen by one spectator at a time. In 2006, he premiered régi, a performance with Julia Cima, Raimund Hoghe and himself, as well as Quintette Cercle (2006), a live version of héâtre-élévision. La danseuse malade (2008) performed by Jeanne Balibar and Boris Charmatz, was inspired by the texts of Tatsumi Hijikata, founder of butoh dance. One of his latest works, 50 years of dance (2009), is performed by former dancers of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Conceived like a choreographic flip-book, it takes the book “Merce Cunningham, Fifty Years” by David Vaughan as its score. Roman Photo (2009) is the version for non-dancers, students and amateurs and Flip Book (2009) the one for professional dancers. Levée des conflits (2010) is a performance for 24 dancers and 25 mouvements. Associate artist of the 2011 Festival d'Avignon, Boris Charmatz creates at the Cour d'Honneur of the Pope's Palace enfant, a piece for 26 children, 9 dancers and 3 machines.

Since 1997, in collaboration with Angèle Le Grand, he developed varied projects within the association edna. The purpose of such propositions was to create a space open to multiple experiments: thematic sessions, production of films (Les Disparates by César Vayssié, Horace Benedict by Dimitri Chamblas and Aldo Lee, Une lente introduction by Boris Charmatz), Hors-série programmes proposed by the edna team (La chaise and Visitations by Julia Cima, Jachères by Vincent Dupont), production of installations (Programme court avec essorage), organisation of exhibitions (Complexe, Statuts), and trans-media projects (Ouvrée - artistes en alpages, Entraînements-série d'actions artistiques, Facultés, Education).

While maintaining an extensive touring schedule, he also participates in improvisational events on a regular basis (recently with Saul Williams, Archie Shepp and Han Bennink) and continues to pursue his performing career (with Odile Duboc for Projet de la Matière and Trois boléros, as part of the piece d'un Faune (éclats) by the Albrecht Knust Quartet and with Fanny de Chaillé for Underwear), to name a few.

From 2002 to 2004, while an artist-in-residence at the Centre national de la danse in Pantin and driven by the idea of exploring the theme of education in depth, he developped the Bocal project, a nomadic and ephemeral school that brought together students from different backgrounds. He was visiting professor at Berlin's Universität der Künste, where he contributed to the creation of a new dance curriculum which was installed in 2007.

He is the co-author of a book with Isabelle Launay: Entretenir / à propos d'une danse contemporaine (published jointly by the Centre National de la Danse and Les Presses du Réel) published in English in 2011 under the title undertraining / On A Contemporary Dance (Ed. Les Presses du Réel). Boris Charmatz is also the author of “Je suis une école” (2009, Ed. Les Prairies ordinaires) related to the adventure Bocal.

Director since 2009 of the Rennes and Britanny National Choreographic Centre, Boris Charmatz proposes to transform it into a Dancing Museum of a new kind. A manifesto is at the origin of this museum, which has received, amongst others, the projects préfiguration, expo zéro, rebutoh, service commandé (on commission), brouillon (rough draft), Jérôme Bel en 3 sec. 30 sec. 3 min. 30 min et 3 h., Petit Musée de la danse, « Rétrospective » par Xavier Le Roy and has travelled to Saint Nazaire, Singapore, Utrecht, Avignon and New York.

He creates the piece manger at the Ruhrtriennale in Germany on September 23rd, 2014, danse de nuit as part of the Built-Festival of Geneva in 2016, then 10 000 gestes in 2017 at the Volksbühne of Berlin.

Source : Boris Charmatz’s website

More information : 

http://www.borischarmatz.org/

Sima Khatami, born in 1977 in iran, living in paris since 2002.

after finishing a theatre formation in city-theatre and graduating from fine art university in tehran in 2000, she joined l’Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts of paris by Christian Boltanski mentorship in 2005 . She created more than thirty movies and multimedia art installations, and collaborated with Pierre Droulers, Christian Boltanski, Boris Charmatz, Emmanuelle Huynh, Meg Stuart, Dumb Type (Japan), Skit, Sweet & Tender. She explored several aspects of video art through installations, shows (where she examined the relationship between body movement and video art), and several short movies and documentaries.

Source : Sima Khatami

More information :

http://simakhatami.blogspot.fr/