Three static shots. Three places – a crossroads in Sochaux, a park in Besançon, a pedestrian street in Montbéliard – through which cars, people walking and onlookers pass. At times, imperceptibly, the population freezes, everyday gestures softly echo each other, attitudes rhyme and respond in canon. An underlying order of things takes shape before immediately unravelling.

 Adapting for the screen Sept jours, sept villes, an in situ action by Odile Duboc in the cities in the East of France, Harold Vasselin places his camera in front of the street scene delicately transformed by the choreographer. The motionless frame becomes the collection of tiny actions that the choreographer attempts to deposit in the urban landscape with the subtlety of chance. The cinematographic and choreographic positions respond to each other and, together, define a sort of new objectivity. This is an essential document for understanding Odile Duboc’s approach and the erudite danced compositions she then deploys on stage. A return to the origins of her choreographic journey that began at the end of the 1970s in the streets of Aix-en-Provence.

Source : Patrick Bossatti

A classical  dancer and self-taught teacher in Aix-en-Provence, Odile Duboc created her own school Les Ateliers de la danse in the 1970s. In 1983, she created  the association Contre jour, with her partner and lighting designer, Françoise Michel. In  1990 and until the end of 2008, she directed the Franche-Comté National Choreographic Center in Belfort, where she succeeded Joanne Leighton. In 1993, she created the work Projet de la matière, a milestone in the history of the new French dance. She  will be recognized as an important choreographer of French dance, and  will stage many shows and operas for various institutions, including the National Center for Contemporary Dance in Angers. She died of cancer on April 23, 2010 at the age of 69.