A propos his work in general and his latest work, J̵e̵ t̵’a̵i̵m̵e̵ à la Folie, choreographer François Lamargot told me last year that he works out from the idea our civilization suffers from “a handicap of the heart” that prevents it from recognizing its own destructiveness.
By “heart” Lamargot means the balance between physically hearing, seeing, touching, tasting and smelling and reacting or feeling. Feeling starts with self. He says people have become so absorbed in themselves that they’ve forgotten how to look around to see how they’re affecting the world around (See: François Lamargot on hybrid dance and the tragedy of the handicapped heart).
As far as creating dance performance is concerned, Lamargot says that to get his thinking across, he wants to strain every sinew of theatrics, dance and multimedia to bring his audience to “sensibility” of this civilizational handicap, rather than intellectual understanding of it – he wants to get beyond words and work on imagination.
And, it turns out, in the dancing, Lamargot creates a prolonged, delicious thrill, a crowd-pleasing thrill, that leaves a spectator sitting wondering just where they are for a minute or two after the applause stops.
Karine, my companion, who was sitting in the seat just next to me waited a minute before smiling, raising both eyebrows and asking how I’d describe what had just happened. Smiling back, I said something like “Pina Bausch grooving on an Apocalypse Giselle”. Then, something like, “Flawlessly executed by woke break dance brats from the down-at-heel social club in the trash-strewn lot we call the 21st-century...” I said, “Exciting”.
Karine laughed and, as she does, puffed out a light raspberry, saying, “‘Post-Apocalypse’, you mean”. Then, after a few seconds she says, “They sure can dance”.
She’s right.
Aided and abetted by well-aimed multi-media effects and great sound arrangement (music including Vivaldi, Gloria Patri; Tom Waits, The Earth Died Screaming; and Taku Sugimoto, Spring) Lamargot’s dance performers are as uninhibited as any 80s-style experimentalist free expressionists. But they never romp. There’s not a tic without an elegant purpose. And within the first 10 minutes, the trim, athletic hip-hop trained performers subjugated Karine and I with a “beyond Waltz” that was both professionally knowing and inspired; alone and together, they radiated the noble sensuality of Waltz …
This, what, respect for? genre movement and the layers of expression and sense beneath it characterized the whole piece… Honestly, Karine and I agree, the mix and range of dance skill is so smooth and matched to sensibility as to be indescribable.
Lamargot does claim to have turned out his own genre in what everybody these days seems to be calling “hybrid dance” – combining moves and even ideologies from theater, performance, ballet, modern, contemporary and urban dance in a single choreographic piece. Maybe that’s right. And maybe, in reality, all choreographers have always been doing that. Be all that as it may J̵e̵ t̵’a̵i̵m̵e̵ à la Folie is dance performance with something quite wonderful in it.
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I saw “J̵e̵ t̵’a̵i̵m̵e̵ à la Folie” at Théâtre de Suresnes Jean Vilar, 4 February 2024, with performers: Anaïs André, Joël Elisée Konan, Alexandre Gastoud, Oscar Lassus dit Layus, Cassilda Marcoulet, Anabella Pirosento and Erwan Tallonneau. Directorial assistance and costuming: Maryse Poulhe. Interactivity, multimedia, lights and scenography: Claudio Cavallari, Allan Hové and Benjamin Lebreton
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