L’Oubli, toucher du bois ("Oblivion – touch wood")
Visual artist, costume designer, scenographer, dancer and exhibition curator: Christian Rizzo is a multidisciplinary creative talent. His choreographic work synthesizes the many facets of his art, exploring the inexhaustible possibilities of the body in space.
"Literature is not the only outlet for writing. We write in space, too, but this form of writing is without a name: I like to call it choreography." For Christian Rizzo, movement and gesture are forms of writing in space – whether that space is a taut surface, skin, fabric or network upon which transient signs are inscribed. His new work – created in association with his not-for-profit company Fragile in the context of a residency at the Opéra de Lille (France) – examines themes of absence and wanting. "To tell a story is to explore its absence," he observes. L'Oubli, toucher du bois attempts to counter the forces of obliteration.
Seven performers – one woman and six men, one clearly older than the rest – enact dances of hope for a dead man, a pantomime of lovers' gestures, in a wooden, architectural set enclosing the space of the stage.
In collaboration with Bernard Blistène, Rizzo's exhibition Le Sort probable de l’homme qui avait avalé un fantôme ("The probable fate of the man who swallowed the ghost") at the Conciergerie in Paris (part of the Centre Pompidou's Nouveau Festival) presented fifty contemporary works (sculptures, objects, accessories, photographs), each exploring the depiction of the body, movement (rather than dance) and the concepts of apparition and disappearance – recurrent themes in Rizzo's work, transcending the boundaries between different disciplines. A unique artistic journey, faithfully supported by the Hermès Foundation.
events
World première at the Opéra de Lille: 3 performances on 25, 26, 27 February 2010.
Followed by
• TAP de Poitiers (France), 31 March 2010
• Passerelle de Saint-Brieuc (France), 8 April 2010
• Théâtre de la Ville à Paris (France), 26 – 28 May 2010
• A performance at the Festival de Marseille (France), (20 June to 8 July 2010)
Autumn 2010
• Toboggan de Décines (France), (part of the Hors les murs programme at the Maison de la Danse de Lyon-), 4 – 5 November 2010
• DeSingel in Antwerp (Belgium), 27 November 2010
• MC2 de Grenoble (France), 1 – 3 December 2010
• Scène Nationale d’Orléans (France), with CCN d’Orléans, part of the Traverses festival, 16 December 2010
team
Concept, choreography and costumes: Christian Rizzo
Dance: Jean Louis Badet, Philippe Chosson, Kerem Gelebek, Christophe Ives, Wouter Krokaert, Sylvain Prunenec, Tamar Shelef.
Scenography: Frédéric Casanova et Christian Rizzo
Lighting: Caty Olive
Original score: Sylvain Chauveau
Artistic collaboration: Sophie Laly
Stage manager: Patrick Laganne
Technical director: Jérôme Masson
Sound director: Anthony Toulotte
Lighting director: Arnaud Lavisse ou Caty Olive
Decor and accessories by the Opéra de Lille.
Administration, production, diffusion: Catherine Meneret et Dominique Grimonprez
Production: l’association Fragile
Coproduction: l’Opéra de Lille, le Théâtre de la Ville de Paris, la MC2 de Grenoble, le Festival de Marseille, la Maison de la danse de Lyon…
Cette création a reçu le soutien de la Fondation d’entreprise Hermès.
Coproduction dans le cadre de leur accueil studio: le CCN de Grenoble, le CCN d’Orléans, le CCN de Roubaix–Nord-Pas-de-Calais.
Avec l’aide de l’Académie Fratellini, de la Passerelle Scène Nationale de Saint-Brieuc pour leur mise à disposition d’espaces de travail.
Remerciements à la Chaufferie / Compagnie DCA Philippe Decouflé et au Centre National de la Danse de Pantin.
L’association Fragile est aidée par le ministère de la Culture et de la Communication / DRAC Nord-Pas-de-Calais au titre de l’aide à la compagnie chorégraphique conventionnée.
Depuis 2007, l’association Fragile / Christian Rizzo est en résidence à l’Opéra de Lille.