Emergency is the result of a collaboration between the contemporary choreographer Jérôme Brabant and a group of free runners, New Gravity. It is part of a research project on the meeting of two disciplines, contemporary dance and free running.

This collaboration sets off a reflection on their island identity. So as not to create an aesthetic piece illustrating the history of Reunion Island, Jérôme Brabant has deliberately chosen to work with young people who are moving forwards towards adulthood, and who embody the emergence of a people. 

Free running consists of acrobatic movements through urban spaces, involving risk-taking and making use of the natural objects in your path. The problem of using the space on a theatre stage for free running is overcome by the use of platforms, which give the dancers elevation with the change in levels. Their trajectories use the entire length of the stage and their momentum along the diagonals provides an explosion of their virtuosity.

The alternating rhythms give a different perception of movement by introducing moments of slowness as the group comes together downstage, breaking up the lightning speed that free running requires.

The new demands made on the body are clear for the audience to see, replacing work that is rooted lifelessly in the ground with vertical challenges. Their work is enhanced in this approach as the most impressive figures derive from a group impetus. There is a notion of solidarity in human relations: each authentic element is part of a whole and makes it more powerful through a collective drive.

The choice of music is the antithesis of the noisy world of free running. Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, with its lively, sustained sounds, accompanies the dancers in their frenzy of running and risk-taking. The dancers set the pace in an acoustic ensemble that mirrors the solidarity that they embody.

Source : Lalanbik

More information :

https://www.lalanbik.org/

https://www.jeromebrabant.com/

Jérôme Brabant is a choreographer, born in 1973 at Saint-Pierre in Reunion Island. He studied theatre at Paris 8 University and the Mimodrame Marcel Marceau School. In 2001 he joined the Toulouse/Midi-Pyrenées Choreographic Development Centre to follow the “Extensions” course and started his career as a dancer-performer for several companies: Marco Berrettini’s *Melk Prod, the Samuel Mathieu company, the Patricia Ferrara company/Unber-Humber Group.

Jérôme Brabant started working as a choreographer from 2002, when he founded the UND und ballet with Marion Muzac. He created his first pieces: Roomy Dancing in 2002, Gala in 2003 and Pavilion in 2004.

In 2011 he founded his Octogonale Company on Reunion Island. His return to the island was the opportunity for him to search for a choreography that focused on the island’s identity. He created his first solo, Heimat, “the country you carry within you”.

In 2014, he produced his second solo performance called Impair, which was inspired by the craft of his grandparents, who were well-known for their knowledge of medicinal plants and magnetic healing.

In 2015, Jérôme Brabant collaborated with New Gravity, a group of free runners, and with them he created the piece Emergency.

In 2016, he researched exoticism with Maud Pizon and created A Taste of Ted, a group of solos adapted from original creations by Ted Shawn.

Source : Lalanbik’s website

More information : https://www.lalanbik.org/ 

Lalanbik was founded in 2014, in Reunion Island. It contributes to the  valorization of actors and choreographics writings of Indian Ocean  territories. Lalanbik implement online ressources tools : the first is  its website, concerning the Indian Ocean Dance news, and the other one  is its online video library, which brings contents about contemporary  and traditional dance writings. Lalanbik works in partnership to lead  its actions in favor of the widening of publics with : libraries,  theatres, dance schools, schools and higher education.

Source : Lalanbik's website

More information : www.lalanbik.org/