To the sound of polyphonic voices, small dance refrains on village squares or promontories overlooking the sea guide the spectator through landscapes crushed by the Corsican sun. A sweet complicity between the songs and the choreography that punctuate each ritual moment of rural life in its traditional imagery: the banquet, the men’s games, the vendetta, the wake…

This film, with its suspended pace, strengthens the osmosis that Jacques Patarozzi had achieved between traditional songs and contemporary dance when the show was created for the stage. A return to his roots for this former dancer of Pina Bausch who, for the last ten years, has been exploring human relationships through sensitive choreographies.

Source : Patrick Bossatti

French dancer, choreographer and pedagogue.

He studied dance with Gene Robinson, jazz dance teacher at the Paris Opera, and began performing in 1967. After having danced in particular for F. Blaska and J. Russillo, he left for the United States in 1970 and joined P. Sanasardo’s company where he created his first works. Upon his return to France in 1975 he directed the Nouveau Carré Sylvia Montfort dance school (Paris) and, in 1976, founded the La Main Group with M. Airaudo and D. Mercy. In 1978, all three were invited by P. Bausch to work in Wuppertal. The group continued to perform in France until 1982, the year in which J. Patarozzi formed the Balmuz Company, hand-in-hand with Isabelle Dubouloz, Maïté Fossen and Bruno Dizien. He continued to create new pieces until 1996 (Soubresaut) yet, at the same time, also pursued his teaching work.

Unlike many French choreographers of his generation, he embraced the expressive, dramatic trend, portrayed by Sanasardo, during his trip to the United States. This choice is emphasized through his creations which focus on emotion, disorder and ambiguity, the fundamental solitude of the human being, as well as through his teaching which, be it related to floor work or port-de-bras orb work, gives profound meaning to gesture commensurate with his sensual, lucid, tortured dance. A distinguished pedagogue, he has trained a myriad of French contemporary dancers and choreographers over the years.

After having danced for over thirty years, Jacques Patarozzi created Le Printemps de la Danse en Charente Festival in 1999. 

From 2009 to 2014, he directed the l’Avant-Scène Cognac theatre, taking over from René Marion, the establishment’s director from 1989 to 2008. In March 2010, he created a highlight event with the “Danse et Vous” Festival. The theatre, whilst continuing to pursue its multidisciplinarity, went on to obtain the “dance-inclined” subsidized theatre label. 

In more recent years he has been following Sōtō Zen with his master Jacques Brosse. He was ordained a Sōtō Zen Priest in 2004 and proposes zen meditation sessions in Angoulême.

Source : Irène Filiberti and Philippe Le Moal, Dictionnaire de la danse, Larousse, 1999