An extract remodelled by the amateur dance group of the Format programme (Meyras), artistic manager Sophie Gérard, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2016) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

The group
With some fifteen adults-dancers, the amateur dance group of the project Format or the creation of a dance territory, created in 2014 in Meyras, Auvergne, under the leadership of Sophie Gérard, proposes weekly classes on a variety of contemporary techniques. Wishing to become involved in the creative process, they participated for the first time in a piece entitled Heroes by Groupenfonction, and wish to include in a sustainable manner the creation of shows in their programme of activities.  

The project
Déroutes, the work choreographed in 2002 by Mathilde Monnier based on Georg Büchner’s unfinished short story Lenz, highlights walking as the basis for dance, thus giving direct, simple access to the group. Originally rooted in one-on-one work with each dancer, the show, transmitted by Enora Rivière and Thibaut Kaiser, also singles out the identity of the amateurs participating in the project. The geographic context of Format, in the Ardèche region of France, is also a means of nurturing the research and of better understanding Lenz by walking in the midst of nature. 

The choreographer
A figure on the choreographic scene since the 1980s and director of the Centre choré- graphique national de Montpellier from 1994 to 2014, Mathilde Monnier has left the beaten track, taking the risk of widely extending her references with works around Africa such as Pour Antigone (1993), around autism in L’Atelier en pièces (1996) and around the group and the individual with Les Lieux de là (1998). She also enjoys comparing her points of view with those of writers (Christine Angot), philosophers (Jean-Luc Nancy) and singers (Katerine). She was named director of the Centre national de la danse in Pantin in 2014.

Mathilde Monnier occupies a place of reference in the landscape of  French and international contemporary dance. From piece to piece, she  thwarts expectations by presenting work in constant renewal.

Her  appointment as head of the Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon  Choreographic Center in 1994 marked the beginning of a series of  collaborations with personalities from various artistic fields (Jean-Luc  Nancy, Katerine, Christine Angot, La Ribot, Heiner Goebbels.. .).

She  created more than 50 choreographic pieces presented on major  international stages like the Avignon Festival, the Théâtre de la Ville  in Paris, passing through New York, Vienna, Berlin, London and receiving  several prizes for her work (Ministry of Culture prize, SACD Grand  Prize).

After directing the CND National Dance Center in Paris,  Mathilde Monnier resumed her creative work in 2019 with several pieces  like Please Please Please (2019) which she created in collaboration with  La Ribot & Tiago Rodiguez, Records (2021) and her latest, Black  Lights (2023).

Since 2020, Mathilde Monnier and her company have residing at the Halle Tropisme in Montpellier.

Source and more information: https://www.mathildemonnier.com/en/

From live stage images to life in images, the  director and video artist Karim Zeriahen seems to have found the  shortest way. Since the beginning of the 90s, when he worked in close  relationship with choreographer Philippe Decouflé, he learned how to put  the art of stage in motion, contemporary dance most of the time. Karim  Zeriahen then starts a fruitful collaboration with Montpellier based  choreographer Mathilde Monnier. Stop, Videlilah, day of night, short  films adapted from her stage creations. Each time, Karim Zeriahen's   camera takes over the place with movement, the body language is not  frozen but magnified. Choreographer Herman Diephuis also joins this  gallery of dancing portraits. Documentaries on figures such like Albert  Maysles or Hubert de Givenchy and from Joe Dalessandro to Paul  Morrissey, he sets a signature, a camera always in action with  confidence.

Today the director goes further with a new  project and tracks the subtle movements of the body language beyond the  physical appearance. A collection of living portraits as unique pièces  reminding us of the master portraitists of renaissance. These living  natures consists in filming the subject in a certain amount of time,  almost still, with signs of respiration, eye blinks, as if it were  posing for a painting. They are then displayed on a flat screen with a  memory card. With this collection starting, Karim Zeriahen, with his  documentary and artist vision, interrogates himself about the virtual  world filled with images. By taking a pause, and his models with him, he  questions the way we look at things, the way we look at life.

Source: Philippe Noisette 

En savoir plus: www.karimzeriahen.com

Amateur Dance and Repertory is a companion program to amateur practice beyond the dance class and the technical learning phase. Intended for groups of amateur dancers, it opens a space of sharing for those who wish to deepen a practice and a knowledge of the dance in relation to its history.

Laurent Barré
 Head of Research and Choreographic Directories
Anne-Christine Waibel
 Research Assistant and Choreographic Directories
 +33 (0)1 41 83 43 96
danse-amateur-repertoire@cnd.fr

Source: CN D

More information: https://www.cnd.fr/en/page/323-danse-en-amateur-et-repertoire-grant-programme