Now let's be clear, this evening you will not see any country dancing: “À Contre Danse” is a piece drawn from life, experience and memory. How do the body and mind, after a specific study by means of the contredanse, digest and reapply the material learned? To move beyond his life in dance, his experience as a dancer and the substrate of the creations of older choreographers, after a number of pieces, Davy Brun felt the need to go back to the origins of classical dance. The popular country dance, known in England since the sixteenth century, arrived in France at the end of the seventeenth century. The French version, the contredanse (etymologically “to dance facing one another”) gave birth to a standardised form: the quadrille. It belongs to a world of codes which require a mediation of the feelings. Access to the other needs to obey a set of strict symbolic rules. The composition of the piece is based on preparatory work with Cathy Flahaut: “a square space, a multiplied vision of displacements in pairs or in unison, the figures described become entangled, the paths mingle, untie themselves, and like in a kaleidoscope, the movement organises itself and creates its motifs.” What can one do with this dance today? How should it be treated? What should be kept? What is the point of developing it or reviving it? It is worth noting that if this was a performance dance in which a society presented itself to itself, then it ignored the frontal rapport between the performer and audience. Davy Brun: “I then felt a greater need to foster that which I had not found in this dance: using the arms, jumps and also physical contact, in short, everything that was not allowed. It was important for me, rather than trying to reconstruct or re-transcribe the dance, to build our work on this premise. What part of the past and what traces of it do we still hold within us? Can we (or how can we) rid ourselves of the past and/or our experience? In what form do the influences appear?”

The music accompanies this evolution of the piece into a contemporary world while quoting Handel directly. It presents a collage in which the music of the eighteenth century is blended with sound layers and the musical creation of Julien Tarride.
Two dummies are used as stage props. They are a reference to the quadrille's past; they also allow the face-to-face character, the basis of the quadrille, to be maintained in the stage composition. But anchored in the present, their charisma renews the eternal question by default: how do I reach the other, up to what point should I signal my conscious and incarnate presence? This device then allows the two dancers to find their focus of exploration in an endless succession of lifts and entwining of bodies… a reconsideration of the space necessary for a relationship. The void which shapes the contours of a relationship gives way to a tamed sense of shock.

Source : Maison de la Danse

A dancer and young choreographer, Davy Brun began his training at the Conservatoire National de Région in Lyon, before joining the École de Danse de l’Opéra de Paris and training with his dance master, Max Bozzoni. The eight years he spent at the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon and his three years with the Grand Théâtre de Genève allowed him to discover multiple gestures. His work with the leading contemporary choreographers, Mats Ek, Trisha Brown, William Forsythe, Maguy Marin, Philippe Decouflé, Mathilde Monnier, Jirí Kylián, and Nacho Duato, inspired in him a strong wish to live out other experiences as a free-lancer and encouraged him to create his own choreographies: “Ando” (2006) and “El Parajò de Fuego” (2013) for the Choreographic Centre of Valencia, “Pointless Monkey” in 2007 for the Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon, “Nosotros” in 2008 for LaMov in Zaragoza, “À Contre Danse” in 2009 for his own company Ando Danse Cie, and “Curse” in 2010 for the Bouand dance Company in Portland. In March 2012, Davy Brun created a work for six dancers, “Christoffa”, at Le Toboggan in Décines in coproduction with La Maison de la Danse. He created the solo, “Renaissance”, and the piece for dancer and visual artist, Emergence.

Sources : Maison de la Danse's program ; Davy Brun website

More information: davybrun.fr

Author, filmmaker and video artist Charles Picq (1952-2012) entered working life in the 70s through theatre and photography. A- fter resuming his studies (Maîtrise de Linguistique - Lyon ii, Maîtrise des sciences et Techniques de la Communication - grenoble iii), he then focused on video, first in the field of fine arts at the espace Lyonnais d'art Contemporain (ELAC) and with the group « Frigo », and then in dance.
   On creation of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon in 1980, he was asked to undertake a video documentation project that he has continued ever since. During the ‘80s, a decade marked in France by the explosion of contemporary dance and the development of video, he met numerous artists such as andy Degroat, Dominique Bagouet, Carolyn Carlson, régine Chopinot, susanne Linke, Joëlle Bouvier and regis Obadia, Michel Kelemenis. He worked in the creative field with installations and on-stage video, as well as in television with recorded shows, entertainment and documentaries.

His work with Dominique Bagouet (80-90) was a unique encounter. He documents his creativity, assisting with Le Crawl de Lucien and co-directing with his films Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux and 10 anges. in the 90s he became director of video development for the Maison de la Danse and worked, with the support of guy Darmet and his team, in the growing space of theatre video through several initiatives:
       - He founded a video library of dance films with free public access. This was a first for France. Continuing the video documentation of theatre performances, he organised their management and storage.
       - He promoted the creation of a video-bar and projection room, both dedicated to welcoming school pupils.
       - He started «présentations de saisons» in pictures.
       - He oversaw the DVD publication of Le tour du monde en 80 danses, a pocket video library produced by the Maison de la Danse for the educational sector.

       - He launched the series “scènes d'écran” for television and online. He undertook the video library's digital conversion and created Numeridanse.

His main documentaries are: enchaînement, Planète Bagouet, Montpellier le saut de l'ange, Carolyn Carlson, a woman of many faces, grand ecart, Mama africa, C'est pas facile, Lyon, le pas de deux d'une ville, Le Défilé, Un rêve de cirque.

He has also produced theatre films: Song, Vu d'ici (Carolyn Carlson), Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux, 10 anges, Necesito and So schnell, (Dominique Bagouet), Im bade wannen, Flut and Wandelung (Susanne Linke), Le Cabaret Latin (Karine Saporta), La danse du temps (Régine Chopinot), Nuit Blanche (Abou Lagraa), Le Témoin (Claude Brumachon), Corps est graphique (Käfig), Seule et WMD (Françoise et Dominique Dupuy), La Veillée des abysses (James Thiérrée), Agwa (Mourad Merzouki), Fuenteovejuna (Antonio Gades), Blue Lady revistied (Carolyn Carlson).

Source: Maison de la Danse de Lyon