“On essaye”(2005) is a documentary by Arnold Pasquier. It was produced during rehearsals of Christian Rizzo’s show “Soit le puits était  profond, soit ils tombaient très lentement, car ils eurent le temps de regarder tout autour“. It was shot on Monday, April 11th, 2005 at La Chaufferie, Saint Denis.  

Remark by Arnold Pasquier in 2019 :  

"Invited by my dancer friend Donata D’Urso, interpreter of the show, I went to the Chaufferie de Saint-Denis equipped with my camera with the idea of filming a few shots of the rehearsals.I turned up when the troupe was rehearsing a scene, with corrections and modifications, and I filmed these rehearsals, with the intuition that they would provide the material for a film."  

"Installed in the studio of the Chaufferie, Saint-Denis, Christian Rizzo rehearsed "Soit le puits était profond, soit ils tombaient très lentement, car ils eurent le temps de regarder tout autour". The stage set, a floor made up of white monoliths, was already in place. The choreographer was lost in his thoughts. Slow panning shots swept the space, while close-ups captured the bodies in motion, the details of the hands or faces. Switching between comments and research moments, a choreographic sequence is played over and over, and we follow its progression through the working day. The notion of falling is at the heart of the work, and its stylised variants, collective or singular, scatter their poetry on the stage, as in the images and motion. Bodies recumbent, borne aloft, shouts and manipulation of objects, structure a minimalist language delicately doomed to disappear”. 

Irène Filiberti, in catalogue VIDÉODANSE, Centre Pompidou, 2006.  

Christian Rizzo was born in 1965 in Cannes. His artistic career began in Toulouse, where he started a rock band and designed a line of clothing, after which he studied fine arts at the Villa d'Arson in Nice, then unexpectedly branched out into dance.

In the 90s he performed with a number of contemporary choreographers including mathilde monnier, herve robbe, mark tompkins and georges appaix, and sometimes created soundtracks and costumes for them as well.

He also worked with choreographers with a different artistic approach, such as vera mantero, catherine contour, emmanuelle huynh and rachid ouramdane.

In 1996 he founded l'association fragile and began presenting events, dancing objects, solos and group pieces, as well as various projects and commissioned work in fashion and the visual arts.

Since then, over thirty projects have borne fruit, not counting his pedagogical activities. Christian rizzo teaches on a regular basis in art schools in France and abroad, as well as in establishments devoted to contemporary dance.

On January 1st, 2015, Christian Rizzo takes the lead of the National Choreographic Center of Montpellier. Now called ICI (International Choreographic Institute), the CCN offers a transversal vision of creation, training, artistic education and openness to the public.

Source : Website of ICI, CCN of Montpellier

More information :

http://ici-ccn.com/

http://www.lassociationfragile.com/

Arnold Pasquier was born in Paris in 1968. After studying visual arts and cinema, he made tests in Super 8 and video, in which he developed a world of filmed newspapers and fictions. At the age of twenty, he approaches contemporary dance and collaborates with choreographers as documentarist and dancer. This experience marks the realization of a work where dance holds an important place.
From 1997 to 1999, he was received as a resident artist at the Fresnoy (Tourcoing, France) where he designed the installation "C'est ici que j'avais des baisers" (1997-1999) and produced about twenty short films, four radio design workshops For France Culture and dance performances capturing. In 1999, he presented the show "C'est merveilleux" in the Grande Nef du Fresnoy. He is the author of numerous films (fiction, documentary, video art), staged shows, scenographies, radio broadcasts. His work is articulated at the crossroads of these different disciplines. Winner of a residence Villa Médicis Hors les Murs (outside the wall) in Sao Paulo in 2004, he dances for Julie Desprairies in "La danse en accès accès", "Vue sur la mer" and "Là commence le ciel". He co-signs with her the video-dance installation "Les 3 contents", the result of the residence of the choreographer at the Manufacture de Sèvres (France). 

Source: Website of the Compagnie des prairies  
More information https://arnoldpasquier.com