Kaspar Hauser “first saw the light of day” in Nuremberg in May 1828. He was 17. Up to then sequestered in a dungeon, he could barely speak or walk and had the behaviour of a very young child. His case made big headlines at that time and, since, has never ceased to fascinate scientists and inspire poets. In 1998, François Verret also dedicated a work to him, of which this film is the adaptation.

 Based on the observations published at that time by the president of the Court of Appeal of Bavaria, Verret showed less interest in the secret of the origins of Kaspar Hauser than in the conditions of his sequestration, that “crime against the human soul” and in his learning process and confrontation with human society. Faithful to a recurring concern in his work, the choreographer highlights the violence exerted by this society in its overriding desire for normalisation and, thus, the exclusion that the non-normal subject undergoes, turned into a guinea pig or a freak to be exhibited in fairs. Filmed using light cameras that place the spectator at the heart of the arrangement designed by Claudine Brahem and immerse it in the mental universe of a Kaspar superbly interpreted by Mathurin Bolze, Kaspar Konzert highlights the qualities specific to the writing of François Verret – a non-narrative and fragmented writing, at the crossroads of the performing arts and where music plays a decisive role.

Source : Myriam Bloedé

Mathurin  Bolze began his career in performance with director Jean-Paul Delore  (four creations), and then  with Archaos (Metal Clown tour), before  studying at the National Centre for Circus Arts (Cnac - Centre national  des arts du cirque). 

Following this, he joined the circus collective Anomalie during the Cri du caméléon tour created by choreographer Joseph Nadj. He then became involved in a number of collective creations by the company, such as 33tours de piste (circus concert) and Et après on verra bien…. After meeting at the Cnac's promotional show Sur un air de Malbrough, he joined François Verret in the creation of Kaspar Konzert, followed by Chantier Musil and Sans retour (Avignon 2006). During the same period, he was involved in  choreographic research on the topic of weightlessness conducted by  Kitsou Dubois.

In 2001, he founded the Compagnie Mpta (hands,  feet and head as well) as artistic director and performer, where he  created the solo works La Cabane aux fenetres in 2001 and Fenetres in 2002, the duet Ali in 2008 with Hedi Thabet, Tangentes in 2005, Du goudron et des plumes in 2010, the show utoPistes in 2011 with Compagnie Xy and musicians Louis Sclavis and Jean Pierre Drouet and in 2012 A bas bruit.

He was also artistic director for the creation Singularités ordinaires by the collective GdRA, as well as a collaboration between juggler Jérôme Thomas and musician Roland Auzet entitled Deux hommes jonglaient dans leurs têtes and, more recently, Samedi détente by Dorothée Munyaneza. 

In 2009, he was awarded the Arts du Cirque prize by the SACD (Société  des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques – Society of Dramatic Authors  and Composers). 

In 2013, he accepted the Thabet brothers' invitation to participate in the creation of  Nous sommes pareils à ces crapauds qui...

He regularly teaches at the Cnac, ENSATT, CNR and Ecole de Cirque de Lyon (Lyon Circus School). 

In  2015, he was given a carte blanche commission by the Picasso Museum in  Paris and the festival Ambivalence(s). He is also putting on a repeat  performance of the show  Fenetres show with acrobat Karim Messaoudi  and creating a new work, Barons perchés a joint creation with Messaoudi using the same scenographic design.  He  has also welcomed Juan Ignacio Tula and Stefan Kinsman as apprentices  for their firsts creations: Somnium (2015) Santa Madera (2017).

For the third year of the festival utoPistes, in 2016, he created a large-format in situ show Ici ou là, maintenant ou jamais with 14 acrobats from Cheptel Aleikoum and the support of Christian Lucas.
Into  the french national circus school CNAC, for the 2017-2018 season, he  designed the 29th promotion into a worskhop-show intitulated Atelier 29 with the contribution of 6 students of ENSATT.

Source : MPTA

En savoir plus : mpta.fr

 Architecte de formation, il découvre la danse en 1975 avec Karine Saporta chez qui il est aussi interprète. Il poursuit sa formation auprès de Susan Buirge et Jacques Patarozzi, tout en commençant ses recherches avec divers partenaires. Après avoir rejoint un an Hideyuki Yano et Elia Wolliaston, il fonde son propre groupe en 1979. Primé à Bagnolet en 1980, il prend très vite ses distances avec les circuits institutionnels de productions et de diffusion pour développer, en marge, des collaborations avec divers artistes : comédiens, musiciens, danseurs, plasticiens, éclairagistes. En 1994, il s'installe dans la banlieue parisienne et ouvre son propre lieu, Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers, lieu de recherche et de création qu'il dirige jusqu'en 2000.
Tout en s'appuyant sur de grands textes littéraires (de Goethe à Péguy, Kafka, Melville, Musil ou Faulkner), il reste attaché à l'idée de « chorégraphier le réel » en interrogeant l'espace et les gestes, et privilégie l'expérimentation, les processus. Métaphoriques, ses pièces questionnent le social, le politique ou explore la valeur du travail et la mémoire, l'énigme humaine. Si son travail interroge l'espace public et témoigne d'un fort souci éthique, sa poétique proche de l'univers de Kafka, le porte à concevoir des spectacles aux rouages complexes où corps et machines sont la proie des plus grands dérèglements. Insolites, ses pièces jouent sur le fil de la dérision et réinterrogent la relation au public.
Source : Irène Filiberti, Myriam Blœdé, Dictionnaire de la danse, sous la direction de Philippe Le Moal, Larousse, 2008
En savoir plus :
http://www.compagniefrancoisverret.com/