The Spectator's Moment or how to discover an artist, a piece of work or a company in just two minutes. It is a collection of programmes produced by the Maison de la Danse in Lyon and presented by Dominique Hervieu. Each episode is devoted to an artist or a company that is programmed at the Maison de la Danse and offers the public keys or artistic benchmarks for better understanding and appreciating the choreographic art.
 



© Maison de la Danse de Lyon

Dancer, choreographer, director and art director

As a child, I dreamt of becoming a comic book artist. Drawing is usually the start of my creative process. I just throw out ideas and sketch out pictures that pass through my head. My culture is comics, musicals, nightclub dancing, and also Oskar Schlemmer, the Bauhaus choreographer. Discovering photos of characters from his Triadisches Ballett was a revelation for me. I had always wanted to work with simple geometric shapes like cubes and triangles. I liked seeing how these lines and volumes behaved with each other. Alwin Nikolaïs taught me the importance of light and costume, and the confidence you need to mix everything together. Technically, it was Merce Cunningham who taught me the most about dance. I was taking video courses he was giving in New York. It was fascinating. That’s where I learned how to solve problems of distance and geometry, and the basic principles of optics and movement. Tex Avery inspired me a lot in thinking up gestures that are almost impossible to do. I’ve always kept something of that desire to create something strange, extreme or crazy in my movements. I’m looking for a dance style that’s off-balance, always on the verge of toppling over. With influences like the Marx Brothers, for example, and in particular Groucho Marx, I’ve developed a taste for naughty risk-taking, and comic repetition of mistakes.

Source : Philippe Découflé

More information : cie-dca.com

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

Artistic direction: Philippe Decouflé

Creation: 1983

Having being initiated to dance by Isaac Alvarez and the Circus Academy of Annie Fratellini, Philippe Decouflé created his Company, DCA (sometimes for Decouflé's Company for the Arts sometimes for "Défense Contre Avion") in 1983 after a first career as a dancer (Régine Chopinot, Alwin Nikolais). The company's first production, "Vague café", met an immediate and large success with both the public and the professionals. Philippe Decouflé then created several productions whose titles bore evidence of his interest for the world of comics and to its humour: with "Surprises", "Fraîcheur limite", "Soupière de luxe", "Tranche de cake", Decouflé's fame spread in France and throughout

In 1986, the success of "Codex" confirmed the blossoming of the Company and contributed to defining a more and more singular artistic identity. "Codex was" inspired from an illustrated encyclopaedia, drawn at the end of the 1970s by a young Italian, Luigi Seraphini: the fantastic animals, the imaginary plants and the living vegetables were to inspire Decouflé in the years to come.

Meanwhile, Decouflé became more and more interested in video. When DCA was first funded he directed a few dance videos –"La voix des légumes", "Jump"; a few years later, he wrote and directed a short film –"Caramba" as well as music videos' for New Order – "True Faith" - or the Fine Young Cannibals – "She Drives Me Crazy".

Source: the company DCA 's website

More information

cie-dca.com