Danses macabres are being played on this performative turntable, such as can be found on some old frescoes. “These grotesque dances conjure up comic characters making fun of death, as well as rather tragic figures”, says Mathilde Monnier. György Ligeti’s opera Le Grand Macabre served as initial inspiration for this work, which was created at the beginning of the pandemic. It’s about memory: about capturing music on records and about documentary records against forgetting. Monnier is convinced that the feeling of confinement in lockdown should remain in the public consciousness. This is why – first, as if dazed but then with increasing feverishness – the six performers in RECORDS soon show clear signs of madness. Currently among the most influential French choreographers, Monnier has built a kind of resonance box in this group piece, and it is only from its reverberations that the movements and the structure of the piece emerge. RECORDS thus becomes a dialogue between the choreographer and the dancers.
Choreography: Mathilde Monnier
Performer: Sophie Demeyer, Lucia Garcia Pulles, Lisanne Goodhue, I-Fang Lin, Carolina Passos Sousa, Ashley Wright
Set design and videos: Jocelyn Cottencin
Dramaturgy: Stéphane Bouquet
Lighting designer: Eric Wurtz
Sound designer: Olivier Renouf
Costumes: Laurence Alquier
Set construction: Atelier Martine Andrée
Music: Luigi Nono and The Comet is Coming
Voice work: Violeta Rodriguez
Stage manager: Emmanuel Fornès
Sound technician: Nicolas Houssin
Production Manager: Margot Maizy
Distribution: Nicolas Roux - Otto Productions
A production by OTTO PRODUCTIONS / THÉÂTRE GARONNE
With the support of the Fondation d'entreprise Hermès as part of the New Settings programme.
In coproduction with Compagnie MM, Chaillot-Théâtre national de la Danse, Centre Dramatique National de Valence, MA scène nationale Pays de Montbéliard, TPR - Centre neuchâtelois des arts vivants & ADN - Danse Neuchâtel, Centre national de la danse CN D de Pantin and the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine d'Angers.
