Shot during the Festival de la Nouvelle Danse in Uzès in 2003, this film, composed like a quintet, mixes the choreographic universes of Javier de Frutos, Emmanuel Gat, Kitt Johnson, the Peeping Toms, Nathalie Pernette and Andreas Schmid. Transposed and interpreted in a natural setting, between woods and fields, the extracts of their works form a getaway into the landscapes of southern France.

This film does not seek to narrate any specific piece. Catherine Maximoff’s vision of dance focuses on the work of the interpreters, how the body and universes of each choreographer enter into resonance with the environment. By associating very different words, styles and writings, Uzès Quintet blends into matter and time and mixes elements at first sight unrelated. Sky, heat, light and vegetation are as important as the dancers. Movements of ensembles, duos and solos, situations sometimes more theatrical or acted – some images recall the stage and the spectacular dimension of choreographies – have no other purpose than the formation and variations of the landscape and how the dancers occupy, reveal and transform it.

Source : Irène Filiberti

Javier De Frutos was born in Venezuela in 1963 where he began his dance training in 1980, continuing at the London School of Contemporary Dance and at the Merce Cunningham School, New York.

From 1988 to 1992 Javier was a member of Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians in New York. In 1992, he was appointed Choreographer in Residence at Movement Research in New York City. On his return to the UK in 1994 he established the Javier De Frutos Dance Company which toured to great acclaim around the world. Javier’s work is in the repertoire of many ballet and contemporary dance companies. 

Source : Scottish Ballet

Gabriela Carrizo (I/AR) and Franck Chartier (F) founded Peeping Tom in 2000. Together they created a first location project that was taking place in a trailer home, Caravana (1999), with would-be long-time collaborator Eurudike De Beul, followed by the film Une vie inutile (2000). 

Peeping Tom’s hallmark is a hyperrealistic aesthetic anchored to a concrete set: a garden, a living room and a basement in the first trilogy ( Le Jardin , 2002; Le Salon , 2004; and Le Sous Sol , 2007), two trailer homes in a snow-covered landscape in 32 rue Vandenbranden (2009), or a burned theatre in A Louer (2011). In these, the directors create an unstable universe that defies the logic of time and space. Isolation leads to an unconscious world of nightmares, fears and desires, which the creators deftly use to shed light on the dark side of a character or a community. The huis clos of family situations remains for Peeping Tom a major source of creativity. The company has started working on a second trilogy – Vader (Father), Moeder (Mother), Kinderen (Children) – around this theme, with Vader (Father) already having premiered. 

In 2005, Le Salon was awarded the Prix du Meilleur Spectacle de Danse (Best Dance Show Prize) in France. In 2007, the company received the Mont Blanc Young Directors Award during the Salzburg Festival and the Patrons Circle Award at the Melbourne International Arts Festival. The pieces Le Sous Sol , A Louer and Vader (Father) all got selected for the Theaterfestival, which gathers the most remarkable shows of the past season in Belgium and The Netherlands. In 2013, A Louer was nominated for the prestigious Ubu Awards in Italy, in the category Best Performance in Foreign Language, during the theatrical season 2012-2013. 32 rue Vandenbranden was elected Best Dance Show of the Year 2013 in São Paulo (BR) by magazine Guia Folha and won in 2015 a prestigious Olivier Award, in the category 'Best New Dance Production'.

Peeping Tom's latest production, Vader (Father), is the first part of the trilogy Father-Mother-Children. It premiered on 10 May 2014 in Theater im Pfalzbau (Ludwigshafen, DE). Apart from being in the official selection of the Theaterfestival 2015, it was also elected Best Dance Performance of 2014 by Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. The jury of the 'Premios de la Crítica Barcelona' awarded Vader in its turn with a first prize in the category 'Best International Dance Production of 2014'. 

Source: Peeping Tom

More information : peepingtom.be