THE LOSS LAB

« …] the void is not empty
we know that, don’t we?
do you believe that the void is the field of all possibilities?
to love a dead person is perhaps
the art of inhabiting the void
inventing gestures that connect us
we the living
in gratitude […] ».
Poem by Laurence Vielle: Ancestors.
To help the depopulation of the world, we repopulate our imaginations. In an openly political and ecological approach, we engage the body in a search for the right ways to connect with the disappearances and the teeming precariousness of our time. We use the art of movement to establish a different relationship with words and concepts, to let the flesh read and listen, to allow the organs to conceptualize the oppressions and crises of our times. Pre-verbal poetry and affirmation of participation in life, dance with intimate generosity questions our convictions in favor of a more-than-human ethic. With tact and scrupulousness, our bodies are extended to other forms of presence, to be able to hear those who should not be able to speak and to address those who do not hear (minerals, birds, ancestors, the dead…). It is a question of resonance, of availability to hear the feedback of the world and those who have made the world, a quest for reciprocity to challenge and transform each other.
Through a crossing of disciplines such as Butoh, somatics, anthropology and poetry, we explore how western anatomy cooperates and meets absurd imagery in search of a conscious and creative sensibility. We intend to play with the liminal possibilities of performance, as well as with extended scores to allow a deeper questioning of ourselves in interaction with the environment and its unobtrusive perspectives. We will plunge into the fields of composition in order to form an alliance with the sound of primordial reorganization to accompany the birth of the unknown. Improvisation and dance call for a political and irrational attempt to perceive and rediscuss our ecologies and affects.
– Practical Info:
Arrival in Thiviers (train station closer to Larret) on 22/8 around 7pm*.
Departure 27/8 after lunch*.
*(a shuttle will be provided, included in the price of the course: the exact time will be checked with the needs of the group)
240€ teaching fee
Accommodation: 5€/ night,
Meals: 20€ morning, noon and evening included.
(vegetarian cooking from local products).
*Each participant will be asked to help with the management of the common life (cleaning etc.), counting on a task of 15 to 45 minutes per day.
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LE LABORATOIRE DE LA PERTE
« …] le vide n’est pas vide
nous le savons, n’est-ce pas ?
croyez-vous que le vide soit le champ de tous les possibles ?
aimer un mort, c’est peut-être
l’art d’habiter le vide
inventer des gestes qui nous relient
nous les vivants en gratitude […] ».
Poème de Laurence Vielle : Ancêtres.
Pour aider au dépeuplement du monde, nous repeuplons nos imaginaires. Dans une démarche ouvertement politique et écologique, nous engageons le corps dans une recherche des bonnes manières de se connecter aux disparitions et à la précarité foisonnante de notre époque. Nous utilisons l’art du mouvement pour établir une relation différente avec les mots et les concepts, pour permettre à la chair de lire et d’écouter, aux organis d’entendre les oprressions et les crises de notre époque.
Poésie pré-verbale et affirmation de la participation à la vie, la danse avec une générosité intime questionne nos convictions en faveur d’une éthique plus qu’humaine. Avec tact et scrupule, nos corps s’étendent à d’autres formes de présence, à d’autres formes d’expression pour entendre ceux qui ne devraient pas pouvoir parler et pour s’adresser à ceux qui n’entendent pas (minéraux, oiseaux, ancêtres, morts…). C’est une question de résonance, de disponibilité pour entendre les retours du monde, une une quête de réciprocité pour s’interpeller et se transformer mutuellement.
En croisant des disciplines telles que le Butoh, la somatique, l’anthropologie et la poésie, nous explorons comment l’anatomie occidentale coopère et rencontre l’imagerie absurde à la recherche d’une sensibilité consciente et créative. Nous avons l’intention de jouer avec les possibilités liminaires de la performance, ainsi qu’avec des partitions étendues pour de nous-mêmes en interaction avec l’environnement et ses perspectives discrètes perspectives discrètes. L’improvisation et la danse appellent à une tentative politique et irrationnelle de perception et de rediscussion de nos écologies et de nos affects.
Info pratiques:
Arrivée à Thiviers (gare plus proche de Larret) le 22/8 vers 19h*.
Départ le 27/8 après le déjeuner*.
*(une navette sera mise en place, incluse dans le prix du stage : l’horaire exact sera vérifié en fonction des besoins du groupe).
240€ de frais d’enseignement
Hébergement : 5€/ nuit,
Repas : 20€ matin, midi et soir inclus.
(cuisine végétarienne à base de produits locaux).
*Il sera demandé à chaque participant d’aider à la gestion de la vie commune (ménage etc.), à raison d’une tâche de 15 à 45 minutes par jour.
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Filippo’s bio
I see identity as a study of multiplicity. I am a dancer, anthropologist, cook, skipper, apprentice mason, activist, poet and a gardener. I calibrate my artistic work to apprehend the eco-social falls and flaws of the planet we inhabit together, in a confluence of flesh, poetry and politics. I live in Larret, a place of collective living and research in dance, somatics, relationship to the earth-matter (crafting,cooking, cultivating), alternative pedagogies. Filippo and Franziska recently co-founded the dance company Reversed Pages.
The resources, methods, techniques that accompany me and shape my practices are: butoh, contact improvisation, somatics (BMC, Alexander Technique, authentic movement), books and the minds that write them. I thank and name some of the people who have influenced my body: M-T Sitzia, Matthieu Gaudeau, Asaf Bachrach, Moeno Wakamtsu, Masaki Iwana, Atsushi Takenouchi and Hiroko Komia, Minako Seki, Imre Thormann.
Franziska’s bio
Born in the far echoes of the GDR, I noticed quiet early that nothing is as it seems. Things that seem to have passed, continued through the memory of my body, or the memory of other bodies. I can still sense years of repression through the force of the state in the way I walk. Hush. Use language.
By the time it turned me into an unsettled, curious mind and activist. I studied Latin America and its’ Resistance Movements. Along the road I fell in love with the poetry of existence itself. To exist means to dance. To dance in- between. In between sky and earth, life and death, me, you and all beings on earth. We often perceive our world as stable, but as we start differentiating we could look at our bodies as porous clusters in an ongoing exchange and oscillation with its surroundings. Movement and transformation are eternal. Dance is a place where all oppositions can finally meet and conversate. Where we can sense the proximity of qualities and the beauty and necessity of difference. A place to inquire what it really means to be « human ».
I am thankfull to carry a huge influence from Minako Seki, Atsushi Takenouchi and Hiroko Komia and Maruska Ronchi in my body. As well as Ko Morubushi and Motimaru really inspire me. My practice is also informed by martial arts, Contemporary Dance and Continuum Movement as an somatic practice.