Foofwa d'Imobilité presents “Benjamin de Bouillis”, a solo inspired by a study of the neurologist, Olaf Blanke, on ‘decorporation' (the sensation of being able to perceive your own body from the outside, as if it was alien, from a distance). Foofwa plays on the mise-en-abîme, not only of the body but also of the person who is supposed to recognize himself within. A piece of work on the identity of the dancer, a reflection of oneself as if one was another (ref. “La Passion d'être un autre” (The Passion of Being Another), “Étude pour la danse” (Study for the Dance) by Pierre Legendre). The work is also enhanced by a character from James Joyce's “Finnegan's Wake”. In this novel, the actor Benjamin de Bouillis plays the avatars of the human comedy, whereas his twin brother, a professional mime artist, caricatures them.            
Foofwa d'Imobilité breathes life into this character; his “Benjamin de Bouillis” places great emphasis on the analogies between pathological cases and the work of the choreographer-performer. And, through dance, illustrates the many and varied phenomena of duplicity. The soundtrack also uses an array of voices to express the strangeness of being both a body and a brain, not to mention being a soul…

Source: Maison de la Danse of Lyon performance programme

“Yesterday, while crossing the street
I remembered
I had seen
Bare-headed
Someone that seemed familiar to me
I only saw myself once last year
I seemed
To be in the air
A few centimetres above the ground.”

(extract from the soundtrack: Gérard Manset, “Le Paradis Terrestre”, taken from the album “La mort d'Orion”, 1970)

Born Frédéric Gafner in Geneva in 1969, son of Brazilian prima ballerina and dance teacher Beatriz Consuelo and solo dancer turned theatre photographer Claude Gafner, Foofwa d’Imobilité studied at the Geneva Dance Centre and worked with the Ballet Junior (1981-1987) under his mother’s direction. He then danced professionally with the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany (1987-1990) before joining the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in New York (1991-1998).

He began working as a choreographer in 1998, creating three multimedia solos.

In 2000, he established the Neopost Foofwa Association in Geneva, with which he produced several group performances. Foofwa has worked in association with mix-media artists Alan Sondheim; artist Antoine Lengo; musicians Fast Forward, Jim O’Rourke, Christian Marclay, Elliot Sharp, Polar, Brice Catherin, Claude Jordan, Nicolas Sordet and Séni; visual artists Nicolas Rieben and Alexia Walther; video makers Pascal Magnin, Nicolas Wagnières and Pascal Dupoy; choreographers Thomas Lebrun and Corina Pia; author Mathieu Bertholet; lighting designers Liliane Tondellier, Jean-Marc Serre, Marc Gaillard, Yves Godin and Jonathan O’Hear; scientists Olaf Blanke and Vincent Barras; dance researcher Annie Suquet and journalist-critic Christina Thurner.

He has studied the relationship between dance and sport and invented the “dancerun”, a hybrid activity between dancing and running over several kilometres, either on stage with « Perform.dancerun.2 » (2003) or outside with « Kilometrix.dancerun.4 » (2003). He then studied the relationship between public and choreographic work in « The Making of Spectacles » (2008) and « Quai du Sujet » (2007); the digital body in « Media Vice Versa » (2002), « Avatar dance series », « Second Live series » (videos), and « Body Toys » (2007); the historicity of the dancing body in « Descendansce » (2000), Le Show (2001), MIMESIX (2005), Benjamin de Bouillis (2005), « Musings » (2009), Pina Jackson in « Mercemoriam » (2009) and « Histoires Condansées » (2011). Foofwa has been commissioned by the Nederlands Dans Theater II, the Bern Ballet, the Ballet Junior de Genève, the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers (SACD) and the Festival d’Avignon in 2010 for « Au Contraire » (à partir de Jean-Luc Godard). He has received the financial backing of the Geneva and the Swiss authorities every year since 2002 and received awards from the Leenaards Foundation in 1999 and the prestigious New York Foundation for Contemporary Arts in 2009. He was also awarded the Prix de Lausanne in 1987, the New York Bessie Award in 1995, the Swiss Dance and Choreography Prize in 2006 and the first Swiss Prize for Dance in the “dancer” category in September 2013, among other prizes.

His most recent performances include « Uterus, pièce d’intérieur » (2014), « L’engage » (2014), and « Soi-même comme un autre » (2014).

Source: The company Neopost Foofwa s website

More information

foofwa.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