FEDORA - Gravity

Presentation

Gravity is one of the four fundamental forces that govern the universe. It refers to the force which means two masses are attracted to one another.
It is invisible, intangible, essential. But it is the force which creates the attraction that we call weight. Weight depends on the attraction exerted by the mass of an object.
Weight is the consequence of gravity. According to Newton’s theory of universal gravity, the gravity of the earth is equal to 9.80. The gravity of the moon, whose mass is smaller, is about 1.6, and consequently on its surface we are almost 6 times lighter.
Between 1907 and 1915, Einstein set out his theory of general relativity which incorporates and supplants Newton’s theory of universal gravity. For him, gravity is the manifestation of a distortion of space by the bodies immersed in it.
For years, these issues of weight, space, speed and mass have intuitively run through my choreographic experiments. Today, according to a principle of alternation between pieces based on pure research and more narrative ballets, this question of gravity leads me back towards a new form of abstraction.
How to render through dance the physical and spatial sensations that might be produced by unequal forces of gravity? How to question, in the essence of my writing, the body and movement through the exploration of different kinds of aerial resistance, considering space as a fluctuating material.
In this way, I wish to be aware of several different degrees of gravity, imagining sensations of weight and mobility from the lightest to the most crushing, and thus invent a series of gestures specific to each one.
Each gravity will be paired with a musical work specifically chosen for its timbre, structure, rhythm and texture.
This physical odyssey will be borne by a team of 12 to 15 dancers, who will also display the attraction of bodies to one another within given gravitational fields.

Artistic Team

Angelin Preljocaj’s creations are often based on deep and strong collaborations with other artists from other fields. This time, in addition to a video artist yet to be determined, Angelin Preljocaj wishes to work with two major artists in their respective discipline, Eric Soyer as lighting designer, and Igor Chapurin as costumes designer. He already worked twice with each of them. Their past collaborations always were successful in the way that each artist brought to the other one his sensibility, his ideas and talent to the project, building together one piece of art that adds up and mixes artists designs. On this project dealing with the question gravity, it will be very exciting to see how the three of them will collaborate and how Eric Soyer will create various atmospheres, spaces, how Igor Chapurin will do research in fabrics and cuts and how, together, they will take spectator to a physical odyssey.