Pentacle


R E P E R T O R Y

	To The Ones I Love For his next choreographic creation, Thierry Smits will be using the music of Johann-Sebastian Bach, on which he will stage nine black dancers. The choreography will aim to be, above all, aesthetic. Without making any concessions to exoticism in this performance, the rule of conduct will be the movement of bodies marked by “western” choreographic techniques, but nevertheless profoundly shaped by other traditions and dances.Even though the racist theories that support some essential differences between Blacks and Whites are still present in numerous minds, we know today that, from a scientific and strictly biological point of view, nothing distinguishes one body from another: same skeleton, same muscles, same internal organs and, of course, same blood! However, on the basis of this potential and of this very same fact certain specificities are grafted, shaped by different cultures. Certain gestures repeated since childhood, as well as techniques of massage and dance, can profoundly modify a body and the perception one has of it from the outside. Thierry Smits resumes in this manner his desire to concentrate solely on dance, quadance, like he had already done in Soiree dansante and D’ORIENT, and not on bringing in any dramaturgic element capable of disturbing the aesthetic development. A work in progress of the piece is available upon request.

	*Method and choreography:* The choreographic idea here is thus to avoid all dramaturgy; the dance will aim to be aesthetic and abstract in order to prevent any kind of interpretation. The intention will be to build the performance bit by bit, by the prior placement of short choreographed sequences, improvised during rehearsals and then memorized and integrated into the final performance. Without necessarily being deliberately promoted, the “Africanity” of the dancers should reveal itself here in a visual richness. The physical potential of each dancer will be used, with its individual and cultural specificity, in order to serve the spirit of the choreographic writing that is dear to Thierry Smits.

	*Music scenery and soundscape:* Johann-Sebastian Bach is a persona inseparable from the western world. The challenge here will be managing the unexpected that may arise from the confrontation of bodies emblematic of one cultural universe, and music from another cultural universe. The work will play out the contrast between the two continents: Africa for the visual and Europe for the auditory. Maxime Bodson will mainly work from chamber music, which he will link by less conventional passages, notably children’s choirs, but also by some contemporary compositions in order to obtain a specific sonorous effect. The principal here will be to heighten the different musical parts as if interwoven -rather than as a collage- until a real sonorous dramaturgy is obtained. Bach’s music, however, will barely -if at all- be reworked or changed.

	*Stage setting and lighting:* The stage setting to be developed here is one of a supple and transportable concept. The idea being to leave a predominant place for the dancers and the movements, within a sober décor, in which the bodies of the dancers as well as the costumes will be emphasized. The costumes will serve the trans-cultural message: sobriety will thus be favored and no sacrifice should be made to any folkloristic characteristic whatsoever. Thierry Smits also wishes to incorporate a mobile element on stage, which will be used by the dancers during pauses. This will consist of an “island of rest” on which the dancers will come to pose. As for the lighting, it should be shifting in order to subtly underline the movements. The costumes will be limited to black trousers and plain colored t-shirts. The colors of the t-shirts will form a progressive element of the set: they will, as a matter of fact, be put on and taken off in turn in order to obtain a subtle evolution of colors.

	D’Orient Created in March 2005, the piece was born out of choreographer Thierry Smits’ fascination for the Middle East Orient and created after a series of voyages to the Arab world.From these trips he brought back images flooded with light, filled with sensuality and generosity, beauty and disorder.The piece is a subjective version and is not an attempt at political analysis. Its purpose is above all aesthetic.Through three different scenes, eight male dancers tell us of the roles, relations, and codes of a traditional patriarchal society but also of a modern and urbanized world. The dancing body is also studied as a form of writing and subjected, for example, to the characteristic rules of oriental structures such as the arabesque and calligraphy. Hammams: It is claimed that there were 27,000 hammams in Bagdad in the10^thCentury. Although the hammam is less frequented today, it remains an important element of daily life and a significant social crossroads. In addition to its ritual dimension, it is also a place of relaxation and freedom. D’ORIENT portrays the hammam as a meeting place constituted of practices and codes, glances and mysterious silhouettes. It reminds us that the hammam is a place of water, a symbol of purification in the Arab-Muslim collective imagination, but also a sexual metaphor. Sahara: In this scene, Thierry Smits is inspired by the aesthetic dimension of the Sahara, the vastness of sand and rock stretching thousands of kilometers from the Atlantic to the Red Sea and from the foot of the Atlas Mountains to Khartoum . Thus to conviviality and profusion comes the response of emptiness and solitude. D’ORIENT leads us to meditate on the silence of a desert, periodically invaded by 4x4s and the 600cc’s of the Paris-Dakar. Festivity: D’ORIENT also takes up the matter of brotherhood and the theme of festivity. Through this theme, Smits explores the “joie de vivre” and conviviality of a society and tries to show how dance, closely related to festive situations, establishes a dialogue beyond corporal expressiveness. It is both a “reaction marked by adequate movements of the body to the music” and “the warm contact of the musicians and onlookers, mediated by the body of the male or female dancer.” D’ORIENT had its US premiere at Miami Dade College in Miami , FL in April 2008. It was performed at the Kennedy Center in DC in March 2009. D’ORIENT has also been presented in Belgium , The Netherlands, Tunisia , Palestine , Egypt , Morocco , France , Greece , Germany , Poland , Lebanon , Jordan , Romania and Hungary .

W O R K S H O P S

	Master Class Compagnie Thor’s master classes are about 1 hour and 15 minutes long. They target professional dancers and focus on technique. The classes include training using floor work base, stretching and release technique to provide “tools” to approach any kind of movement, as well as very physical choreographic sections that will allow dancers to go beyond the technique to find their freedom.

	Workshop The workshops are approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes, and target both professional and non-professional dancers. They are based on the transmission of the repertory, improvisation and (re-)composition.

	Lecture-Demonstration The company will perform excerpts of a piece which will be followed by a Q&A with the choreographer.

	Lectures Lectures about the history of the company, the type of work proposed by the Company, the artistic approach, etc.

PHOTOS: Marie-Francoise Plissart