WELCOME TO PARADISE / first performed 1989

Choreography and dance performance Joëlle Bouvier, Régis Obadia

“This duet was composed not long after the two dancer-choreographers produced their first short films (‘La Chambre' and ‘L'Étreinte'). If their primary source is neo-realist Italian cinema, other references show through, notably in the soundtrack, which reuses dialogue from Sam Fuller's films and ‘I Want to be Loved by You' performed by Marylin Monroe. But here, cinema is more than a reference, it is choreographic material: the concept of the music soundtrack, lighting, linking of sequences and effects contribute to create a film-like choreography. With no set, and as props, just a bouquet of flowers and a rope – at times a swing, at times possibly a rope around the neck – the the two dancers (he in a dark jacket, she in a simple black dress and high heels that are soon discarded) work their way through the range of feelings that affect a couple: tenderness, sorrow, desire, ecstasy, submission, escape. With a rare dramatic accuracy, entirely carried by their physical presence, they polish the facets of a love affair – sensual and cruel, anchored in the body – until they gleam. This duet between hypnosis and vertigo is marked by a recurrent eddying motif. It ends in a white cloud of talcum powder which both dancers throw into the air, a ‘cloud of unknowing' which descends as a halo around the image of their crossed destinies.” 

Source: Dictionnaire de la danse, Philippe Le Moal, Ed Larousse, 1999

Credits

Chorégraphie et interprétation Joëlle Bouvier, Régis Obadia bande son Patrick Roudier costumes Thomas Smith lumières Marc Oliviero
Coproduction Théâtre de la ville, Maison de la culture du Havre, l'Esquisse

Réalisation vidéo Charles Picq date du document 1992 production Maison de la Danse

Updating: March 2011

Régis Obadia was born in 1958 in Oran, Algeria. He studied dance from 1976 to 1979 at the Institut des Arts et du Mouvement, run by Françoise et Dominique Dupuy, and was initiated into theatre by Jacques Lecoq. In 1980 he formed the l'Esquisse company with Joëlle Bouvier. Their earliest pieces thrust the pair into the national and international limelight.
Directors of the Centre National de la Danse Contemporaine, Le Havre from 1986 to 1992, they were appointed artistic directors of the CNDC, Angers in 1993, renamed CNDC l'Esquisse, which they directed until 2003.    
Since 1998, Régis Obadia has pursued a solo creative career.    
An important figure in modern dance since the early 1980s, Régis Obadia has marked the memories of those who have seen him with the feverish sensuality and powerful gestures of his pieces. With the founding of his own company in 2003, he asserted his distinctive style and his open-mindedness by working just as happily in the field of theatre as that of pure dance. His regular collaborations with Russia, in partnership with Lisa Wiergasova, have won him prestigious prizes, including a Golden Mask in 2004 for his choreography of “The Rite of Spring”, and a Seagull in 2004 for his direction of “The Idiot” at the Moscow  
Chaika Festival. After “The Rite of Spring” to Stravinsky's music, he composed “Réversibilité” (2005), inspired by Baudelaire's “Les Fleurs du Mal” and “Trois” (2006), set to Schubert's “Death and the Maiden”, performed at the Théâtre Sylvia Montfort, Paris. During this time he also produced the Dominique Mercy documentary “Danse Pina Bausch” (2003), in homage to the iconic German choreographer.    

Source : the company Régis Obadia's website

More information

regisobadia.com

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