"For if man is formed by circumstances, it is important to create human circumstances."

Guy Debord

Foules is first and foremost a choreographic project designed for a large group.

Foules is a writing project in the form of a gestural and literary score.

Foules follows a logic of situation rather than imagery.

Foules draws inspiration from the analysis of space, in the manner of Perec, and disassociates itself from the subject with Lettrist insolence.

Foules winks towards Allan Kaprow, Anna Halprin, Odile Duboc, and Jacques Tati.

Foules borrows the most obvious and mysterious gestures and rhythms from the street.

Foules designs concrete communities, whether conscious or random.

Foules uses virtual communities to shape itself.

Foules is not a structural analysis but a cubist portrait.

Foules is interested in the internal and external balances of a group, its own rhythms, and will impose others on it.

Foules is a living tableau composed of a multitude of snapshots on which we will refrain from examining closely.

Let us be in crowds, yes! Because it's true there are often no crowds on contemporary dance stages, and from intimate performances to accompanied solos, the fantasy of a large body in movement ends up haunting us. And is this only due to economic reasons, or to a persistent hatred of all things 'corps' (ballet orthe army), or perhaps the presumption that quality cannot withstand quantity and/or vice versa? Come on, let's trample all over this crowd of questions and melt into it for a while. If we can't contain or electrify it, we can always immerse ourselves in it and hope we don't get lynched.

Trained first in ballet, Olivia Grandville resigned from the Paris Opéra Ballet to join the Compagnie Bagouet in 1988. For more than twenty years she has developed her own work, most focusing on the question of language and phrasing, be it musical, verbal or choreographic.

In 2010, she created Une semaine d’art en Avignon (A week of Art in Avignon) with Léone Nogarède and Catherine Legrand, under the auspices of the Sujets à Vif section of the Avignon Festival, then Le Cabaret discrépant, the result of research carried out on lettrist choreographic scores, created and presented at the 2011 Avignon Festival and then at the Théâtre de la Colline in Paris. During the 2013  2014 season, she created a number of solos: L’invité mystère (The mystery guest) based on a text by Grégoire Bouiller; Le Grand Jeu, a solo described as «under the influence»; and Toute ressemblance ou similitude (Any resemblance or similarity) based on a text by Aurore Jacob. She then created a number of larger scale works, notably Foules (Crowds), a creation for 100 amateur dancers, in 2015, prefiguring her next work, Combat de Carnaval (Carnival Combat) and Carême (Lent) for 10 dancers. She has been an Associated Artist at the Lieu unique since 2017, where she created A l’Ouest (In the west) in May 2018, channeling her own study trip to Canada and the USA to research First Nations dances.

Grandville is also a dancer and improvisation specialist and is regularly invited to work on the implementation of projects, notably by the choreographer Boris Charmatz (Roman-Photo, Levée des conflits, 20 danseurs pour le 20èmesiècle) and César Vayssié (Coproud)…

 César Vayssié produces films and performances. At the intersection of visual arts and dance, his work sidesteps all classification. His  artist status is emblematic of a work permanently trying to find  itself, starting from intra and extra cinematographic influences. After graduating from Beaux-Arts (art school), he joined the Académie de France-Villa Medici in Rome as a filmmaker. Alongside UFE(UNFILMÉVÈNEMENT),  he created UFE performance at MuCEM - Actoral 15. During FIAC 2016 in  Paris Vayssié premiered his piece COPROUDUCTION a series of improvised  duets with experienced performers.

Source :  César Vayssié

More information :
https://www.cesarvayssie.com/

Mille Plateaux has been home to artist and choreographer Olivia Grandville's project since January 2022. Mille Plateaux aims to be a space for creation, experimentation and artistic innovation; it wishes to reflect the vitality and diversity of the contemporary scene, and to be a home for choreographic cultures in the broadest sense. The National Choreographic Centres are major players in the vitality and structuring of choreographic creation in France and constitute one of the labels of the French Ministry of Culture.