Seventy-two hours. It is the duration ofInvisible, the new creation of Aurélie Pedron. With this unusual format, the choreographer reinvents the codes of the show, both for the performers and for the audience she invites to interact. A choreographic quest for authenticity and entities that become society.
“What gave birth to this work is the desire to escape the ego; the ego as an identity construction with which one identifies: for the benefit of something greater”, recalls Aurélie Pedron when she talks about her new piece, the origins of which date back to the end of 2017. For nearly three years, she then worked with her performers to find ways to overcome individuality. “It’s an issue rooted in society: how do several entities become a group? How do we get rid of who we are to focus on listening to others? asked the artist.
After two years of postponements, the play Invisible had to adapt. About twenty dancers went through the creative process. Ten now find themselves on stage. However, the structure has always worked despite the restrictions. “Usually, I work a lot with touch, on the knowledge that one body can transmit to another. With InvisibleI worked more on the look, and never on the touch, ”she explains.
Place in time
The decision to make this piece last 72 hours was made early in the process. Indeed, for Mme Pedron is a way “to get rid of your habits”. “Time allows us to peel what we think we know how to do, what we think is good, what is not good, the fact of performing as a dancer, of shining…” she lists.
For her, this long moment makes it possible to go beyond the classic performance of the performers, to discover “new layers” and therefore to touch on authenticity. “During the first hours, they exhaust their know-how, they perform. Thanks to the exhaustion of the force, the state of grace settles. We are no longer in doing, but in being. When you touch that, it’s really delicious, ”she revels.
Moreover, the feeling of community that she wanted to talk about is illustrated by the fact of installing a creation in time. Each performer can, as they wish, stop dancing, watch the others, eat, rest. None of this is placed, it’s all done organically. Only one rule: at least one dancer must “keep the fire going”. “They need to understand and listen to their personal needs, but also those of the community. How do we attach ourselves to each other, to continue together because alone, it’s impossible to do a 72-hour show, ”she adds.
In terms of gestures, the choreographer explains that nothing is decided in advance, nothing is choreographed. Having so much time in front of them allows dancers to go further in their bodily habits. “We avoid imitation. We work above all on changes in dynamics, lines of force, rather than on forms as such,” says the choreographer. In her piece, she wants each body to provide information, so that each can compose the other. “When we are in a common listening, we give birth to a kind of intelligence greater than the self and it becomes visible, and it is touching. When the performers reach this listening, they become a river all together. It works not in force, but in response. A flow of energy then passes through their body,” she describes with passion.
A spectator-actor
The place of the public has been studied at length by Aurélie Pedron. Indeed, she wanted to escape the classic codes of the show. In 2020, when she presented a first draft, for 68 hours in the form of an open residency, the interaction did not happen. “Nobody dared to intervene in the work. The performers were too tight-knit, the space didn’t lend itself to it,” she recalls. Since then, she and her collaborators, in particular the scenographer Kévin Pinvidic, have therefore developed a brand new, “more welcoming” place. Old furniture, technological objects, plants, sofa, pouf… The stage space looks like a house where everyone comes and goes as they see fit.
In a preamble to the work, the public is invited to play a game of cards on a board. A mise en abyme of the game they will then actually play with the dancers. “Thanks to that, we help the guests to register their actions in a common goal. Otherwise, we found that it went in all directions,” says the designer.
In space, spectators leave with a deck of cards. Several styles of cards can then be drawn: action cards which, for example, invite you to move a piece of furniture, to plug in your telephone to broadcast what you want (music, film, sounds, etc.); cards that encourage interaction, so you can whisper in the ear of a dancer, put a blindfold in the space and walk…; and introspection cards that suggest closing your eyes, looking only at your hands, or even questioning how you look at the work. “It’s also possible to call a dancer, while being there or even when you go home. We create a bond, a feeling of belonging,” she adds. To allow even more freedom, spectators choose the time of their visit, and with a single ticket, they can return as many times as they wish.
With InvisibleAurélie Pedron continues her anthropological research and hopes, as with her other pieces, “to create a space that will allow us to perceive existence in another way”.
With her various games, Aurélie Pedron also seeks to demystify the image of the ritual. “We always associate the ritual with something serious,” she concludes. The work is a ritual in which the game is part, so the ritual becomes even stronger, precisely because it is not serious. »