Philippe Decouflé dances here in the first person singular, as “I”. Yet he does not choreograph his ego. He offers fragments of existence and of sensations where each spectator may conjure up a portrait. His “Solo” is an “I” that swings back and forth between himself and us.

His life? His work? We don't really care. The “Solo” is slightly, but just very slightly autobiographical. Yet it speaks to our human hearts. Imagine ten fingers filmed in close-up on a table, two wandering hands that twirl around and set the beat. It doesn't seem like much in writing, but on the stage it is so intense that several spectators fainted. Imagine a myriad of cameras and screens kaleidoscoping Decouflé infinitely, going on and on and on. He is transformed into a water ballet master where he forms, by himself alone, the astounding flock of beauties in swimming costumes. Wait, that's just the beginning, the show goes on… “I'm full of doubt”, explains the choreographer upon the Solo opening. A specialist on the question and on the subject, René Descartes, said before him: “I am not the assemblage of members called the human body”. I dance therefore I am, is an undeniable contribution from Decouflé to philosophy.

Source : Maison de la Danse performance program

Dancer, choreographer, director and art director

As a child, I dreamt of becoming a comic book artist. Drawing is usually the start of my creative process. I just throw out ideas and sketch out pictures that pass through my head. My culture is comics, musicals, nightclub dancing, and also Oskar Schlemmer, the Bauhaus choreographer. Discovering photos of characters from his Triadisches Ballett was a revelation for me. I had always wanted to work with simple geometric shapes like cubes and triangles. I liked seeing how these lines and volumes behaved with each other. Alwin Nikolaïs taught me the importance of light and costume, and the confidence you need to mix everything together. Technically, it was Merce Cunningham who taught me the most about dance. I was taking video courses he was giving in New York. It was fascinating. That’s where I learned how to solve problems of distance and geometry, and the basic principles of optics and movement. Tex Avery inspired me a lot in thinking up gestures that are almost impossible to do. I’ve always kept something of that desire to create something strange, extreme or crazy in my movements. I’m looking for a dance style that’s off-balance, always on the verge of toppling over. With influences like the Marx Brothers, for example, and in particular Groucho Marx, I’ve developed a taste for naughty risk-taking, and comic repetition of mistakes.

Source : Philippe Découflé

More information : cie-dca.com