Skip to main content
Back to search
  • Add to playlist

Chalet 1

Maison de la Danse de Lyon 2015 - Director : Plasson, Fabien

Choreographer(s) : Plassard, Denis (France)

Present in collection(s): Maison de la Danse de Lyon , Saisons 2010 > 2019

Video producer : Maison de la Danse

en fr

Chalet 1

Maison de la Danse de Lyon 2015 - Director : Plasson, Fabien

Choreographer(s) : Plassard, Denis (France)

Present in collection(s): Maison de la Danse de Lyon , Saisons 2010 > 2019

Video producer : Maison de la Danse

en fr

Chalet 1

Chalet 1, by the writer André Baillon, owes its title to the little chalets of Salpêtrière Hospital. It was written after a time spent on the ward of the petits mentaux, or those with 'milder' mental illnesses. 'Chalet 1' is a mosaic of short scenes describing daily life in the hospital, with portraits of patients and doctors whose humour lightens the darkness. Jean Martin (a sort of double of André Baillon) is the narrator of the tale made up of short chapters with a restrained, pithy and very spoken style. 


A choreographed choir


The three performers each sit on a stool, as though for a psychiatric consultation or to give evidence. They talk together in unison, or share Baillon's incisive text through an often musical form of dialogue. The three voices are complementary and contradictory. They give us the impression of listening to the chaotic thoughts of the patient Jean Martin. We follow his racing thoughts, his interminable misgivings and his contradictory points of view on the nurses, his companions or himself. The set is rudimentary: three performers and three stools. The bodies are both the sounding boards of the remarks and the staging of the mental film that is projected. The movement is organised into a demented choreography that is as precise and original as the text. Little by little, the bodies take up more and more space, they upset, contradict or reinforce their words without ever falling into a stereotypical or hysterical gestural representation of madness; on the contrary, they reinforce the humanity and humour of the author. The movements are the music of the text, complementary but never decorative or illustrative. Gestures and words are synchronised with obsessive meticulousness to the point of making the contortions and convulsions seem perfectly natural. With total scenographic sobriety and strictly limited effects, the body and voice of the sick Jean Martin are augmented. At the heart of all this is the notion of ambiguity, of the multiplicity and complexity of the individual. 


The text


I have been haunted by the ghost of a choir of actors, minutely choreographed, for over ten years. Without any idea of the text, the vision of a choral score for both voice and body imposed itself upon me. With this project I am therefore returning to an old love for a text and a choreographed stage play ('Le Terrier', 'Jours'). That said, I am taking a new approach that places the group at the heart of the writing. The discovery of this text by André Baillon was the trigger. It clearly represents an ideal crossover between a long-standing formal desire and my current preoccupation with rift, turmoil and ambiguity. Here, in a limited space, between the walls of the Salpêtrière (or the 'pétète' as it was known on the inside), is a little play that is madly human – simply human.

Plassard, Denis

Denis Plassard started to dance on a misunderstanding : wrapped up in crepe paper for the "End of the Year Show" in primary school, he was convinced that the steps meant something and that putting them together was just like writing sentences to tell a story... Since then, a question (a bit odd for a dancer/choreographer) haunts him: what does the movement mean? What do we say when we move?

He then decided to study dance and entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Lyon. After he graduated, he danced for 2 seasons with Josette Baïz's company in Aix-en-Provence.

In 1991, at the age of 23, he set up his own company named after his first solo, “Propos”, which was created the year before. Very early in his choreographic career, he tried to create dynamic links between speech and movement and his work focused on the connection between "Dance and Text". His choreographic writing is precise, sharp and very theatrical, and his style is quirky and full of humour and derision. Prolific choreographer and eager dancer, he enjoys being confronted with new universes and is continually looking for artistic meetings and crossroads between different aesthetics.

From Kafka to Mermet, from Bizet to Labiche, from the stage to the circus ring, he keeps having new ideas that mix hip-hop, circus, music, theatre and dance.


Source : The company Propos 's website


More information : compagnie-propos.com

Plasson, Fabien

Born in 1977, Fabien Plasson is a video director specialized in the field of performing arts (dance , music, etc).

During his studies at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (joined in 1995) Fabien discovered video art. He was trained by various video artists (Joel Bartoloméo Pascal Nottoli , Eric Duyckaerts , etc) .
He first experimented with the creation of installations and cinematic objects.

From 2001 to 2011, he was in charge of Ginger & Fred video Bar’s programming at La Maison de la Danse in Lyon. He discovered the choreographic field and the importance of this medium in the dissemination, mediation and pedagogical approach to dance alongside Charles Picq, who was a brilliant video director and the director of the video department at that time.

Today, Fabien Plasson is the video director at La Maison de la Danse and in charge of the video section of Numeridanse.tv, an online international  video library, and continues his creative activities, making videos of concerts, performances and also creating video sets for live performances.


Sources: Maison de la Danse ; Fabien Plasson website

More information: fabione.fr

Chalet 1

Choreography : Pierre-Jean Étienne, Denis Plassard, Jean-Philippe Salério

Stage direction : Denis Plassard

Text : Chalet 1 d’André Baillon - première publication : 1926 - Ed. Rieder (Paris) réédité en 2009 aux Éditions Cambourakis (Paris)

Lights : Dominique Ryo

Costumes : Béatrice Vermande, Julie Lascoumes

Settings : Yves Perey (Tabourets)

Other collaborations : Cie Propos et Éric Dutriévoz (régie générale)

Production / Coproduction of the choreographic work : Coproduction Théâtre Jean Vilar / Bourgoin-Jallieu, Compagnie Propos - Spectacle créé en résidence au Toboggan /Décines

Production / Coproduction of the video work : Maison de la Danse - 2015

Our videos suggestions
02:58

Deux-mille-dix-sept

Marin, Maguy (France)

  • Add to playlist
03:04

Lobby

Zebiri, Moncef (France)

  • Add to playlist
02:44

Transparent Monster

Teshigawara, Saburo (France)

  • Add to playlist
50:55

Mammame : Les enfants qui toussent (acte II)

Gallotta, Jean-Claude (France)

  • Add to playlist
06:38

Vertige d'Elle

Moineau, Claire (France)

  • Add to playlist
08:54

Répète

Chaillé, Fanny de (France)

  • Add to playlist
01:44

Vue sur les marches - Krzysztof Warlikowski

  • Add to playlist
07:13

Bonhomme de vent

Charmatz, Boris (France)

  • Add to playlist
02:27

Mammame's Childhood [teaser]

Gallotta, Jean-Claude (France)

  • Add to playlist
02:13

The Spectator's Moment (2014): Lloyd Newson

Newson, Lloyd (France)

  • Add to playlist
05:01

Un voyage d'hiver

Massin, Béatrice (France)

  • Add to playlist
07:44

Douve

Julien, Tatiana (France)

  • Add to playlist
05:33

Marché noir

Preljocaj, Angelin (France)

  • Add to playlist
03:31

Vue sur les marches - Thomas Lebrun

Lebrun, Thomas (France)

  • Add to playlist
10:29

3 in passacaglia

Endo, Yasuyuki (France)

  • Add to playlist
02:25

Vue sur les marches - Saburo Teshigawara

Teshigawara, Saburo (France)

  • Add to playlist
03:23

Vue sur les marches - Russell Maliphant

Maliphant, Russell (France)

  • Add to playlist
27:00

What about Ida

Tompkins, Mark (France)

  • Add to playlist
32:15

Mansouria

Baïz, Josette (France)

  • Add to playlist
02:30

The spectator's moment (2017): Sleeping beauty

Petipa, Marius (France)

  • Add to playlist
Our themas suggestions

Western classical dance enters the modernity of the 20th century: The Ballets russes and the Ballets suédois

If the 19th century is that of romanticism, the entry into the new century is synonymous of modernity! It was a few decades later that it would be assigned, a posteriori, the name of “neo-classical”. 

Parcours

fr/en/

The committed artist

In all the arts and here especially in dance, the artist sometimes creates to defend a cause, to denounce a fact, to disturb, to shock. Here is a panorama of some "committed" choreographic creations.

Parcours

fr/en/pl/

Indian dances

Discover Indian dance through choreographic creations which unveil it, evoke it, revisit it or transform it!

Parcours

fr/en/

les ballets C de la B and the aesthetic of reality

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

Why do I dance ?

Social dances, anti-establishment, protest dances, rhythms or identities, rituals or pleasures... There are a myriad of reasons for dancing and a myriad of points of view. A webdoc to discover, enhanced with extracts from performances and accounts from amateurs... all the right reasons for dancing!

Webdoc

fr/en/

Dance and performance

 Here is a sample of extracts illustrating burlesque figures in Performances.

Parcours

fr/en/

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

Les Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

Vlovajobpru company

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

40 years of dance and music

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

The “Nouvelle Danse Française” of the 1980s

In France, at the beginning of the 1980s, a generation of young people took possession of the dancing body to sketch out  their unique take on the world. 

Parcours

fr/en/

Body and conflicts

A look on the bonds which appear to emerge between the dancing body and the world considered as a living organism.

Parcours

fr/en/

The national choreographic centres

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

Modern Dance and Its American Roots [1900-1930] From Free Dance to Modern Dance

At the dawn of the 20th century, in a rapidly changing West, a new dance appeared: Modern Dance. In the United States as in Europe, modern trends emerge simultaneously and intertwine in thier development. Let's dive into the beginnings of American modern dance!  

Parcours

fr/en/

Genesis of work

A dance show is created in multiples steps between the enunciation of an initial desire which launch the project and the first representation. This parcours presents diff

Parcours

fr/en/

Dancing bodies

Focus on the variety of bodies offered by contemporary dance and how to show these bodies: from complete nudity to the body completely hidden or covered.

Parcours

fr/en/

Dance at the crossroad of the arts

Some shows are the meeting place of different trades. Here is a preview of some shows where the arts intersect on the stage of a choreographic piece.

Parcours

fr/en/es/de/pl/pt-pt/

Reinterpreting works: Swan Lake, Giselle

Some great shows are revisited through the centuries. Here are two examples of pieces reinterpreted by different choreographers.

Parcours

fr/en/

Genres and styles

Dance is a rather vast term, which covers a myriad of specificities. These depend on the culture of a country, on a period, on a place. This Journey proposes a visit through dance genres and styles.

Parcours

fr/en/
By accessing the website, you acknowledge and accept the use of cookies to assist you in your browsing.
You can block these cookies by modifying the security parameters of your browser or by clicking onthis link.
I accept Learn more