Eight dancers from the Ballet de Lyon mount resistance with Pierre Droulers. For them, the latter has imagined a special choreographic object that satisfies their working conditions. They are walkers. Time is their challenges. As though propelled on a rail, that of a continuous movement whose duration must be tracked, the interpreters officiate non-stop. Rather than a composition, in the conventional sense of the term, the choreographer proposes an itinerary with stops, actions, moments of isolation. A strange composition that has something pictorial and takes from the plastic arts a certain number of concepts, transposed to the stage in a performative approach. In this setting, the body is the object of a hybrid status. Extremely subject to metamorphosis, it thus assumes incongruous postures, transforming on the spot into a multitude of living, instantaneous sculptures. Fleeting, ironic creations that, through the use of clothes or other objects diverted from their original purpose, query shapes and space with the greatest fluidity and a lot of humour. This bias aims at an awareness of the relationship of body and gaze through parodying effects due to events that interrupt and even disrupt the continuous movement to which the interpreters are subjected. Drawing inspiration from the works of the Austrian plastic artist Erwin Wurm, Pierre Droulers raises the issue of identity and the human condition as regards its immateriality, but also of dance and its bringing into play. Alternating impulsion and decision, with short danced segments, the choreography gives priority to brightness and visibility, staying clear of the context of variation. Between rupture and continuity, the score plays on cracking, dislocation, incorporates jumps and altered parts. The group now becomes a landscape, as though pinned in space with sudden, unexpected interactions, modifications. During this process, Pierre Droulers sought to identify ideas and desires around a research familiarity entered into with the interpreters, to question also the personality of each one and find what is unique within the same group. 

After three years of artistic training at Mudra, the multidisciplinary school founded by Maurice Béjart in Brussels, Pierre Droulers continued his training in Poland with Grotowski. He participated in Robert Wilson’s workshops in Paris. During a trip to New York in 1978, he discovered the work of the Judson Church, and returned to dance after seeing Steve Paxton at St Mark’s Church.

He created a solo in Brussels with Steve Lacy, saxophonist and composer (Hedges, 1979). After working on various projects as a choreographer (Tao, with Sherryl Sutton, 1980 - Tips, with the future Grand Magasin, 1982 - Pieces for Nothing, with Minimal Compact, 1983 - Miserere, with Winston Tong and Sussan Deihim, 1985 - Remains, with Steve Lacy, 1991, etc.) or as a performer (with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Michèle Anne De Mey from 1986 to 1989, among others), he created a work in two parts based on Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce, in which he performed in a variety of ways, incorporating acting, dance, talking and music (Comme si on était leurs Petits Poucets, 1991, and Jamais de l'Abîme, 1993).

The question of form and the construction of a work led to abstraction, disposing of the theatricality which hindered him. He settled the issue of objects with Michel François (Mountain/Fountain, 1995), and explored light and emptiness with Ann Veronica Janssens – artists aroused his interest in matter (De l’Air et du Vent, 1996). He alternated between small and large forms, feeling the necessity to be closer to the performer. Petites Formes, 1997, invited four performers – Stefan Dreher, Thomas Hauert, Tijen Lawton and Celia Hope-Simpson – each to create a small form alongside the one Pierre Droulers created for them. Multum in Parvo, at the KunstenFestivaldesarts,1998, questioned the notion of mass once again with its 26 dancers. In 2000, Pierre Droulers staged MA at the Festival d’Automne with Michel François, Ann Veronica Janssens and Yuji Oshima – a stroll through the architecture of modern cities. In 2001, he returned to the stage with Sames, a duo with Stefan Dreher about the question of doubles and the notions of same and different.

Simultaneously Pierre Droulers opened a venue in Marseille, the Bird Studio, for hosting artistic residencies and north-south migrations on the site of Cap 15, with its various studios for artistes.

In 2003 he was given a free hand for a production at the Balsamine in Brussels. Dealing with several venues, moments and artistes (Vélo and Scrub Color II by Ann Veronica Janssens ; Alu by Michel François ; La Maison de Jan Hoet by Koen Theys), this single, unified event presents an itinerary, a pathway between dance, the visual arts and sound that marks a return to small-scale form (Parades) and to group composition/improvisation (Appartement).

In 2004 he produced Inouï, which was presented in Belgium, France and Germany. In 2005 he took part in the Agora project presented in the grounds of the Parc Royal in Brussels as part of the Kunstenfestivaldesarts, on which he collaborated with the artist Simon Siegmann, the composer George Van Dam and the writer Jean-Michel Espitallier.

After Flowers, piece for 8 dancers created inside the Charleroi Danses Biennal and the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in 2007, and All in All, commissioned by the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon, Pierre Droulers presented his piece Walk Talk Chalk, at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in 2009. In 2010, he recreated de l’air et du vent he presented among others in May 2011 at the Théâtre de la Cité internationale in Paris. The piece is still touring.

Pierre Droulers is now associate artist at Charleroi Danses, the Choreographic Centre of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.

Soleils, Pierre Droulers’ last creation, has been created in May 2013 during the Kunstenfestivaldesarts.

Updating : July 2014

As early as 1969, when arriving at the head of the “Opéra Nouveau de Lyon”, Louis Erlo gave a key place to dance. For the first time, an opera house outside of Paris consecrated to its ballet company entire events devoted to dance.
Ever since, it has never stopped opening up to every kind of source, be it a stream or a river, close or far, harmonious or stormy. But, whatever the case, always talented. Right from the start, the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon has lived out this vivifying opening to the world, with its first directors, the Italian Vittorio Biagi, then the Yugoslav Milko Speremblek and the New-Zealander Gray Veredon, who were all in the neo-classical, Béjartian movement of the times. 

But, as of 1985, it was Françoise Adret who gave the company a resolutely plural turn. “Mère Adret” as her dancers affectionately called her, had an eye, the gift of the gab and a large address book. Above all, Française had travelled widely and her mission was to give the troop a national and international dimension. She built up a repertory based on a twofold spectrum: great international choreographers who were still little demanded, (and not the least of them, including Jiří Kylián, Mats Ek, Nacho Duato or William Forsythe) and an opportunity given to “young French dance” (Mathilde Monnier, Maryse Delente, or Angelin Preljocaj)… In any troop, there are moments of grace. But, in Lyon, a lightning bolt was to change the course of history. In 1985, no one imagined that a magical doll (Maguy Marin’s Snow White) would provide the company with a world tour, with no fewer than three trips to the USA in just 1987… Three years later, Lyon did it again by creating the famous rereading of Romeo and Juliet by Angelin Prejlocaj. This was a fresh challenge (and, for the choreographer, his first important commission), and another memorable piece. The die was now cast …
When, in 1991, the Greek ballet-master and director Yorkos Loukos replaced Françoise Adret, the trend was set and has continued to thrive until today, with an extremely open-minded “choreographic” palette. Maguy Marin, who had become resident choreographer, set off even more sparks when, in 1993, she inaugurated the new Opéra de Lyon with an offbeat version of Coppélia set in a popular bar in the suburbs of Lyon. With turnings-back towards the history of dance, views of the contemporary scene, visions of what it will be tomorrow, a plurality of styles, the ages of the choreographers, their origins, and backgrounds, the strength of the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon comes from the very absence of any particularity, except if it is the highly diverse repertory as sought out by Yorgos Loukos. It goes without saying that it attracts the public (who love novelty) and today’s young dancers, who like and are used to changes of style. Even the teachers are in constant motion, changing every month, so as to avoid any routine.

Today, the company has a repertory of 117 pieces, over half of which are creations. A list of the choreographers who have worked in Lyon is a reminder of the importance of the pioneers of new French dance (Mathilde Monnier, Jean-Claude Gallotta) and its young cousins (from Jérôme Bel to Christian Rizzo, Alain Buffard or Rachid Ouramdane). It also means meeting the guiding lights of modern American dance (Trisha Brown, Merce Cunningham, Lucinda Childs), from post-classic energy (William Forsythe, Benjamin Millepied) to the "next wave" (such as Otto Ramstad). It means exploring Belgian musicality (de Keersmaeker) Swedish theatricality (Mats Ek), Czech lyricism (Jiří Kylián), or Israeli power (Ohad Naharin, Emanuel Gat). It means getting used to seeing new talents (Tania Carvalho, Alessandro Sciarroni, Marina Mascarell..). It means… being at the confluences of a dance that has never been so open to the world.

Source: Opéra de Lyon 's website

More information : opera-lyon.com