Gala

The evening-long Gala program is diverse and dynamic. A succession of improvised solos, duets, extracts from larger pieces, and video screenings presents each a facet of the work of the performer-choreographer Boris Charmatz.

As an exemple: Gala’s program on December 5, 2007 - Le Quai, Angers :

Duet extracted from Con Forts Fleuve (16min.)

Choreography: Boris Charmatz

Performed by: Christophe Ives and Boris Charmatz

Prior to production, in 1997, Dimitri Chamblas and Boris Charmatz worked on a dance that marked their first reunion since their duet À bras-le-corps. They used an old tablecloth to bind themselves together in a simple, effective, and irremediable way. This duet then served as the matrix for the dance in Con Forts Fleuve, even though this may not be obvious: in the piece, the duet is broken up into eight fragments, constantly interrupted by lights being switched off and on, unsettled by John Giorno’s disjointed words, combined with the confused bodies of other protagonists… It is the original duet, prior to its transformation, that is shown here, in its more denuded version: only the original costumes were preserved along with the essence of that dance performed while “gasping for air,” with the head wrapped in a pair of pants, its sleeves tied around the dancer’s neck. 

boléro 2 Duet extracted from: trois boléros (20 min, 1996) Conception: Odile Duboc and Françoise Michel Choreography: Odile Duboc Performed by: Emmanuelle Huynh et Boris Charmatz Music: Maurice Ravel Performed by: The RAI Symphony Orchestra of Milan under the direction of Sergiu Celibidache

“The dancers rub against each other in a blindfold duet based on the music by Celibidache. … Odile Duboc was able over time to adopt a sort of organic musicality that is unafraid of confronting a well-known musical score such as Ravel. Avoiding the commonplace, the bodily respiration of the dance circulates within the bolero like slowly-charged electrical fluid. …”

J.M. Adolphe

“Focused on a single point on the stage, this duet is enveloped by music without ever being overwhelmed by it. It slowly sculpts shared material that draws on the lack of constraint and on gentleness, desire, fusion, and wrenching.”

Odile Duboc

“This is a duet where we move between lightly brushing and going deep into the body. The journey consists in penetrating the matter.”

Emmanuelle Huynh

Duet of the Faune et de la grande nymphe extracted from L’Après-midi d’un faune Music: Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un faune by Claude Debussy From Vaslav Nijinski (1889-1950) Performed by: Boris Charmatz, Emmanuelle Huynh L’Après-midi d’un faune premiered on May 29, 1912 at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

The duet has been passed on to Boris Charmatz by the Knust Quatuor, from Nijinski’s score.

“… The three duets presented in room 900 all emanated dizzying beauty. No less enticing for being seen before, Boléro 2, extracted from three boleros by Odile Duboc, features Emmanuelle Huynh and Boris Charmatz who seem to literally espouse the ebb and flow of the score. … Boris Charmatz and Christophe generate the same feeling of graceful force in the duet extracted from Con Forts Fleuve created by Charmatz. … The duet of the Fawn and the Great Nymph, extracted from Nijinsky’s Afternoon of the Fawn … completed these two beautiful moments of dance.”

Ouest France, December 7, 2007