Plexus
2015 - Director : Plasson, Fabien
Choreographer(s) : Bory, Aurélien (France) Ito, Kaori (Japan)
Present in collection(s): Maison de la danse , Saisons 2010 > 2019
Video producer : Maison de la Danse
Plexus
2015 - Director : Plasson, Fabien
Choreographer(s) : Bory, Aurélien (France) Ito, Kaori (Japan)
Present in collection(s): Maison de la danse , Saisons 2010 > 2019
Video producer : Maison de la Danse
Plexus
Plexus comes from Late Latin and means ‘interlacing’. In its later anatomical meaning, it refers to a ‘network of nerves or vessels’. This word therefore indicates both the internal mechanism of muscular movement, nerve impulses and oxygenated blood, and the external mechanics of dance, interwoven gestures, movements, bodies or body parts. For the second time, I wanted to create the portrait of a woman, not as in a painting, a photograph or in literature – which are largely superior arts in this exercise – but by using the body and space as unique prisms, and dance as the initial view.
Making a portrait of Kaori Ito based on stage methods was, for me, a process first and foremost. The set was not the initial idea. I decided on it after several weeks of rehearsals. For the early days, among other materials, I had a string puppet made in the image of Kaori Ito, a life-size and very realistic double. “Here is your dance teacher”, I told her. Kaori spent several hours observing it and following its movements to the letter. From this work I kept only the strings, using them throughout the entire space. The puppet remained in Kaori's body.
From the strings I composed a tangible, living space, from which a metaphysical drama emerged, with strong links to Japan. I obviously did not want to create something 'Japanese', but Kaori comes with her own story and measures her distance from the country today. I didn't want to become distracted from this. Certain myths and recurrent motifs from Japan reappeared. On one hand was the idea of a link with ancestors and the dead. On another was the relationship with beauty that is connected to the shadows, elimination, disappearance. 'Plexus' starts from inside, from the body – this precise anatomical place, this network of nerves that is a vulnerable point – moving outside into space, a network of strings that echoes the etymology of the word plexus.
Theatre therefore extends from the very interior, before life, to the very exterior after death, when the body disappears and becomes indistinct – where being and myth are reunited. I hoped that Kaori Ito's dance – which occasionally was so hampered by impossibility of dancing in that space that it became immobile – could give us access to this dialogue between the inner and outer world.
After the premiere at the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, a journalist reminded me that Isadora Duncan had said that after the long periods of immobility she imposed upon herself, she would find that the central source of all movement was the plexus. “The solar plexus lifted the body up, towards the au-delà.”
Source : Aurélien Bory, November 2013
Bory, Aurélien
Aurélien Bory was born in Colmar in 1972. His studies in physics in Strasbourg led him to the field of architectural acoustics. He then ended his scientific curriculum in 1995. He settled in Toulouse where he joined the creative studio at the Lido, the Circus Arts Centre. In 1998, he played in Theatre Tattoo's "L'Odyssée" directed by Mladen Materic. In 2000 he founded Compagnie 111 with actor Olivier Alenda. He then conceived and began the six-year-long space trilogy project, in collaboration with Phil Soltanoff, including "IJK", "Plan B" and "Plus ou moins l'infini" (More or less, Infinity).
In 2003 he directed Pierre Rigal in his first solo creation Erection, the stem of their ungoing collaboration, which also originated their second work together: Arrêts de Jeu premiered in 2006. Merging various other fields, he created "Taoub" in 2004 in Tangier with twelve moroccan acrobats, this very show will launch the international career of the Groupe acrobatique de Tanger (Tangier Acrobatic Group). In 2008 Aurélien was the recipient of the "Créateur sans frontières" (Creator without borders)/ Radio France trophy for his international creations, notably "Les sept planches de la ruse" (The seven boards of skill) created in China in 2007 with performers from Dalian. In 2008 and 2009, he conceived two creations: "Questcequetudeviens?", a portrait of a woman, and "Sans Objet", a piece for an industrial robot. His creations include different artistic fields : theatre, circus, dance, visual arts, music... His genre-crossing approach is inscribed within the question of space and is explored through his distinctive scenography. In 2016, he created "ESPÆCE" based on the French writer Georges Perec 's work, at the Festival d'Avignon (France).
Source: Company 111 's website ; Plan Bey 's press file
More information : cie111.com
Ito, Kaori
Kaori Ito began her choreographic career in Japan, when she was 18 years old, she was awarded as the best choreographer and interpreter by Ryouichi Enomoto. In 2002, her choreography in "Yokohama Dance Collection" received the award of the Foundation of the City of Yokohama. She feels then the need to dip into her career and her varied experiences as a performer so she starts to create her own work. From January 2004, she goes to New York as the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists and studied at [Alvin Ailey Dancce Theater]. She has also worked with Naini Chen dance company. Studying dance at SUNY Purchase in NY, she choreographed for "Joyce Soho Presents" (New York) in 2004. She receives National Conference award from the Rencontres Internationales de Chorégraphiques Seine-Saint-Denis.
She did choreograpy and body coaching for several films (Sans moi d'Olivier Panchot), assisting choreographers in this task (she helps Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui for Diasthème's movie : Le bruit des gens autour). She choreographed latest show of Edouard Baer and assisted choreography for James Thierrée (solo Raul and Tabac Rouge). After working with Philippe Decouflé (Iris), Angelin Preljocaj (Les 4saisons), James Thiérrée (Au revoir Palapruie), Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (The house of Sleeping beauties by Guy Cassiers) and Alain Platel (Out of Context), in 2008, Kaori Ito directs her first production "Noctiluque" in France and in Switzerland. In 2009, Kaori then deepens her own dance language for her creation entitled SoloS in Japan and presents at the Théâtre National de Marseille, Théâtre du Merlan (France).
Alongside her career as a dancer, Kaori has been interested in cinema, first as a student (she attended an academic film criticism in Japan), then as a videographer and film choreographer.
Her early work : "Carbon Monoxide" was released in 2006 at the Pompidou Center during the festival Vidéodanse, in the United States and in Spain. Kaori Ito is regularly a choreographer for cinema : she worked with Clémence Poésy for the movie "Sans Moi" by Olivier Panchot. She also workes with Léa Drucker for "Le bruit des gens" autour by Diasthème as an assistant of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
Source : Kaori Ito 's website
More information
Plasson, Fabien
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
Plexus
Artistic direction / Conception : Aurélien Bory
Choreography : Aurélien Bory, Kaori Ito
Interpretation : Kaori Ito
Artistic consultancy / Dramaturgy : Taïcyr Fadel
Stage direction : Aurélien Bory
Set design : Aurélien Bory
Original music : Joan Cambon
Lights : Arno Veyrat
Costumes : Sylvie Marcucci
Settings : Pierre Dequivre (conception technique), Atelier de la fiancée du pirate (réalisation), Pierre Gosselin (construction prototype)
Sound : Stéphane Ley
Other collaborations : Tristan Baudoin ou François Saintemarie (Régie plateau et manipulation), Marc Bizet (Machinerie), Arno Veyrat (Régie générale), Florence Meurisse (Directrice des productions) / Christelle Lordonné (Administratrice de production) / Marie Reculon (Chargée de production) / Barbara Suthoff (Développement en international) / Dorothée Duplan et Flore Guiraud assistées d’Eva Dias (Plan Bey) (Presse)
Production / Coproduction of the choreographic work : Production compagnie 111- Aurélien Bory / Coproduction Le Grand T théâtre de Loire Atlantique – Nantes, Théâtre Vidy – Lausanne, Théâtre de la Ville – Paris, Le Parvis scène nationale Tarbes Pyrénées, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, La Coursive scène nationale – La Rochelle, Agora pôle national des arts du cirque – Boulazac Résidences et répétitions : Le Grand T théâtre de Loire Atlantique – Nantes, Théâtre Garonne scène européenne – Toulouse, Théâtre Vidy – Lausanne / Avec l’aide de : l’Usine scène conventionnée pour les arts de la rue – Tournefeuille Toulouse Métropole
Production / Coproduction of the video work : Maison de la Danse - mars 2015
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