The three performers of Après-midi (Afternoon), one woman and two men, are above all three presences, three intensities, three rhythms, wedged into the torpor of passing time.

Three rocking chairs, partners in play, situated diagonally across the space, are the triggering mechanisms for the various body states the performers pass through. The centre of gravity of each chair has been elevated to undermine its stability and the dancer’s. The three rocking chairs function like starting blocks, their design instils the tumult of choreography that sees the dancers striate space with striking fleeting drives, forces it into inebriating circles, or occupies it with synchronized movement. Like three suspension points, the chairs also offer the performers a few moments of respite, shared calm. Like the three performers themselves, between the subtle details, fragile footfalls, simple gestures filled with tenderness and upsurges of rage, and delirious staggering jumps, viewers are jolted between searing intensity, tension and release. Inevitably unsettling

Credits

Choreography Héla Fattoumi/Eric Lamoureux

Premiere danced by Eric Affergan, Héla Fattoumi & Eric Lamoureux (1991)

Danced by Sarath Amarasingam, Matthieu Coulon & Clémentine Maubon Sound recording Christophe Séchet Lighting design for the Premiere Yves Godin Re-creation lighting design Xavier Lazarini Costumes for the Premiere Laurent Lamoureux Re-creation costumes Marilyne Lafay Sets for the Premiere Jean Opfermann Re-creation Scenography Stéphane Pauvret

Après-midi was awarded the SACD Prize for New Talents in Dance (1991)

Premiere October 24th 1990, Centre de Développement Culturel, Alençon

Re-création January 15th, 16th and 17th 2015, Centre Chorégraphique National de Caen/Basse-Normandie

Production creation 1990 Cie Fattoumi-Lamoureux, 3 – Centre de Développement Culturel/Théâtre d’Alençon

With the aid from the PMB

This work receveid aid from Conseil Général de Seine Saint-Denis – Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Bagnolet

Coproduction recreation Centre Chorégraphique National de Caen/Basse-Normandie (CCNC/BN)

Héla Fattoumi and Éric Lamoureux founded the Compagnie FATTOUMI/ LAMOUREUX in 1988. Their first work Husaïs was awarded the prize for best first piece at the Bagnolet International Choreographic Competition in 1990, then their trio Après-midi  received the “New Talents” prize from the SACD in 1991. These two  pieces placed them as leaders of the new generation of contemporary  choreographers and brought them international renown.

A space for research whose source is the intermingling of their individual features.    From piece to piece, they mine the intrinsic intelligence of the body,  its power to reveal meaning, which can also be thought as a part of  movement.    Several other important pieces were created in the same vein as Husaïs: Si loin que l’on aille (at the Théâtre de la Bastille and the Théâtre de la Ville, 1992); Fiesta (commissioned by the Avignon Festival, 1992); Asile Poétique (at the Théâtre de la Ville, 2000) based on texts by the poet Antonio Ramos Rosa; Wasla, ce qui relie… (at the Lyon Dance Biennial, 1998); Vita Nova (at the Grande Halle de la Villette, 2000) with the 11th graduating class of the National Center for Circus Arts.    These pieces show choreographic work linked to the ideas of mastery/  nonmastery, strength/ fragility, minimalism/ performance, a dance whose  expressive weight is charged by a “graphic energy.”

They were appointed directors of the CCN of Caen/  Basse-Normandie in 2004, where they continued their work with pieces  focusing on societal issues.    These works were La Madâ’a (at the Arsenal in Metz, 2004) with the Joubran brothers, Palestinian virtuosi on the oud; Pièze (a “pressure measurement”) and La danse de Pièze  (at the Festival Dialogue de corps, Ouagadougou, 2006 and the Théâtre  de la Bastille), about the idea of “homosensuality” in the Arab-Muslim  world; Just to dance… (the Espace des Arts in Chalon-sur-Saône, 2010), a piece about the idea of “creolization” developed by Édouard Glissant; MANTA,  a solo created at the Montpellier Festival in 2009 and performed on  tour (Tokyo, Séoul, Berlin, Tunis, Brussels, Stockholm, Oslo), based on  the problem inherent in wearing the niqab; Lost in burqa, (at  the Festival danse d’ailleurs, 2011) a performance for 8 dancers, based  on the “clothing-sculptures” by the Moroccan plastician Majida Khattari;  Masculines (at the Arsenal de Metz, 2013) and on the representations of the feminine on both sides of the Mediterranean.

They are reactivating a choreographic research recharging itself with the expressive and poetic potential of dance. Une douce imprudence co-signed with Thierry Thieû Niang (at the  Festival Ardanthé 2013, and the Théâtre National de Chaillot, 2014) on  the idea of “Care”; Waves, a commission for the Swedish opera  company NorrlandsOperan and its symphony orchestra, under the auspices  of Umeå 2014, European cultural capital, for which they are associated  with the Swedish singer and composer Peter von Poehl.

They also chose to step outside theatres to work in situ in other reactive contexts.    In February 2009, they created the performance Stèles as part of a special “Nocturne”, a commission from the Louvre Museum.    In 2008 they created Promenade at the Grand Palais, imagining a dialogue with the monumental sculptures of Richard Serra.    In January 2012 they created Circle, inviting the audience into  the center of a circular structure where dance goes wild with the  massed collective energy of 26 professional and amateur dancers.    In 2013, as part of the Normandy Impressionist Festival they stepped  inside the exhibition “Summer at the water’s edge” at the Beaux-Arts  Museum of Caen for a choreographic Flânerie (wandering).

Creation of the Festival Danse d’Ailleurs (Dance from Elsewhere) (2005)    Beginning in 2005, they founded the Festival Danse d’Ailleurs whose  vocation is to put back into perspective the idea of universalism while  questioning referent frameworks for modernity in art, relating to  cultural horizons.    The first four editions focused on artists from the vast, diverse  African continent and brought international recognition to the event,  and the following editions opened as far as Asia, linking with the Hot  Summer Festival in Kyoto, Japan.

Héla Fattoumi and Éric Lamoureux are fully committed to the promotion and the defense of choreographic art.    From 2001 to 2004, Héla Fattoumi was the dance vice president of the  SACD (Société des Auteurs Compositeurs Dramatiques). She was also in  charge of programming the section called ”Vif du sujet” at the Avignon  Festival.    From 2006 – 2008, she was the President of the ACCN (Association of the  National Choreographic Centers). From 2010 – 2013 Éric Lamoureux took  over the Presidency; he is now the vice president.    From 2013 to 2015, Héla Fattoumi has been the president delegated to long-term planning at the SYNDEAC.

In March 2015 Héla Fattoumi and Éric Lamoureux were named  Directors of the Centre chorégraphique national de Franche-Comté in  Belfort, for which they are developing their VIADANSE project.

Graduate from the Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs, Benjamin Silvestre works as filmmaker. His work explores the body, and his gesture as language, and way of narration.

He made experimental and narrative films and videos, shorts documentaries on Choregraphers and dance films.

Since 2003, he makes many videos recordings of contemporary dance performances.

He also made severals projects of videos installations for Museum (Forteresse Royale de Chinon, Musée de la résistance et de la déportation, Limoges)

He is actually ending the writing of a feature film and a documentary.

En savoir plus : www.benjaminsilvestre.com