The result of a meeting between choreographer Yvann Alexandre and director Doria Belanger, Une île de danse is a sensory journey to the heart of dance movement. Nourished by thirty years of creation and the encounters that have fuelled them, combining repertory pieces and dance conversations, the film paints a portrait of both a creator and an artistic community, and the energy that emanates from it. From the banks of the Loire to the rooftops of Tunis, via the snowy forests of Quebec, a whole space-time that is as organic as it is humanistic takes shape before our very eyes. An ode to encounters, letting go and collective adventure, in which dance, by freeing itself from the spoken word, invents a new language. 

Born in La Roche-Sur-Yon in 1976, Yvann Alexandre began dancing at the Amicale Laïque du Bourg and at the Conservatory of his hometown, then in La Rochelle with Colette Milner, Christine Girard and Brigitte Asselineau. He continued his training in Montpellier with Epsedanse directed by Anne-Marie Porras and, at the same time, also trained at Montpellier CCN (National Choreographic Centre) then under the direction of Mathilde Monnier. During this period, his encounter with Christian Bourigault and other foundational teachings led him to forge the bases of his creative work and his pedagogy. At just sixteen years old, he composed his first works and went on to establish his company in Montpellier in 1993. He produced his first creations for the Hivernales in Avignon and for Montpellier Danse festival.

In addition to his creations, performed on numerous prestigious stages and festivals in France and abroad, he was also the guest of the CNSMDPs (Higher National Conservatories of Music and Dance) of Paris and Lyon, of Quebec and Montreal, as well as the National Choreographic Centre in Nancy and the Nordwest Tanzcompagnie in Germany.

He gained a reputation over these 25 seasons of creation as the representative of abstract, highly-premeditated dance, far removed from the performances and improvisations of others of his generation, and had a particular interest for movement writing.

Even today, his work addresses reflection which focuses on the very substance of dance, where the notion of plasticity gives way to the movement’s own energy, all the while remaining faithful to the idea of line, an element which has existed for him from the very beginning. His creations place movement and scenography on the same footing, like two subjects on equal terms: the plastic matter totally interacting with the body-matter.

His extremely precise body language is full of details and is structured like rather intimate calligraphy.

Source: Cie Yvann Alexandre

More information: http://www.cieyvannalexandre.com/

Dancer, choreographer and video artist Doria Belanger initially trained in contemporary dance as a dancer-interpreter in France (Coline training) and England (London Contemporary Dance School), collaborating with, among others, Les Ballets C de la B, Mathilde Monnier, Emanuel Gat, Ben Duke and more recently Mélanie Perrier with Compagnie 2Minimum. 

Since 2015, she has been developing a personal body of work in the form of video installations, dance films and site-specific choreographic proposals. This path interests her in that it allows her to ‘capture dance’, conjuring the ephemeral dimension of live performance while enriching it with a pictorial dimension. 

Her first video installation, DONNEZ-MOI UNE MINUTE, a series of danced video portraits, has already been shown in over twenty theatres and arts centres that are sensitive to multidisciplinarity, including as part of the official selection for Nuit Blanche Paris 2021. 

In 2020, she launched JOULE, a proposal devoted to the notion of energy(s), bringing together body and environment, in the form of a video installation and a walking choreographic piece set in natural spaces. In 2023, alongside the production of a new dance film, she will be moving ahead with the creation of her first solo work combining dance and live video. 

Créée en 1993, la Compagnie Yvann Alexandre est une compagnie professionnelle de danse contemporaine phare de la région des Pays de la Loire. Attachée depuis ses débuts aux allers-retours entre professionnels, amateurs et tout public, tout en proposant ses créations, la compagnie tisse une politique d’échanges, de rencontres et de formation. Au-delà de la simple diffusion, la compagnie mène un projet audacieux, exigeant et rayonnant à la croisée de la création, de la transmission et des territoires.

La compagnie développe ses créations, sur scène ou in situ, autant sur le territoire local qu’à l’international et les créations récentes pour la scène nationale de Sceaux, le Panama, la Tunisie ou le Centre des Monuments nationaux par exemple, témoignent de ces territoires investis. Un projet qui s’écrit ente fidélité assumée après 27 saisons chorégraphiques et nouvel élan avec des partenaires renouvelés.

Elle construit depuis 2004 un lien étroit avec le Québec, sous la forme de résidences de création, de diffusion et de développement de public et qui prendra un nouvel élan prochainement avec le lancement d’ARCHIPEL : un ensemble de partenaires culturels solidaires aux écosystèmes diversifiés et mutualisés pour un nouveau modèle de coopération culturelle.

Particulièrement attentive à l’ouverture sur l’art chorégraphique dès le plus jeune âge, la compagnie développe et construit à partir des créations des parcours multiples à destination du monde scolaire dans un projet novateur et reconnu. Des parcours conjugués, croisés et transversaux dont la Petite Université de la Danse en est le coeur.

Yvann Alexandre est un chorégraphe de lieux. Depuis ces débuts. En 2019, la compagnie prend la direction artistique du Théâtre Francine Vasse à Nantes avec un projet innovant qui démarre par la transmission pour arriver à l’oeuvre : Les Laboratoires Vivants. Un lieu pour les autres, un lieu ensemble. Pour faire oeuvre ensemble.

www.cieyvannalexandre.com