Can dance be translated ? And what is translation, if not the process of making intelligible something incomprehensible, unknown ? Here, a link forms between the question of the sense of actions and that of words, between the sense in languages and common sense. Because if we must always be “foreign” to someone, then to what could dance be considered foreign, and, paradoxically, from whence comes its reputation of universality ?

In the end, is not the muteness of dance misleading ?

Mode d’emploi takes on the question of the much-discussed inaccessibility of art.

“In MODE D’EMPLOI, I include certain principles of perception at the heart of previous projects, putting them newly back into play. Created in diverse spaces and contexts, these projects—VERTUS/LOGIQUE DU SUJET/LE CURATOR, L’ARTISTE ET LE MEDIATEUR—each experienced a very different development, but the springs of investigation behind them have far from dried up.

How can we open up a perception of singularities during a dance in unison ? To what assumptions does representation lead concerning the affirmation of roles ? How can we talk about dance without silencing it ?

These questions could never summarize all that is at stake in the works to which they refer, but rather they serve as a basis for new dances. Neither entertainment nor performance statement, MODE D’EMPLOI is reflexive choreography in which movement responds to changing states, in which bodies communicate.

We link the question of the sense of actions to that of words, of the sense of languages to common sense, in order to foil the temptation of falling into a single sense. How to articulate this dance so that it acts as its own reference ? Association, positioning, chronology challenge the choreographical matter, destabilizing perception, yet all the while favoring the emergence of this force melting them together.

MODE D’EMPLOI is choreographic danced object, “delivered” with its user’s guide..

This project seizes upon the very matter from which it has been constructed in order to twist it and test it against our own emotions as dance artists. It challenges the different stages of “fabrication :” dancer-movement, choreographer-structure, spectator-gaze, etc. And destabilizes assigned places, established roles…” Nathalie Collantes

Nathalie Collantes was trained under Jacqueline Robinson, Suzon Holzer, and Christine Gérard. After passing through the school of letters, she joined the Sorbonne and its choreography group, which would become an early training ground in experimentation and interpretation, creation and autonomous management. She later entered the companies of Christine Gérard and Daniel Dobbels, then that of Odile Duboc, all the while working on her own creations. In 1992 she founded her company with Chant d’Encre, a duo she danced with Brigitte Asselineau. Her work with the performers throughout the duration of a project makes possible the construction of strong groups enriched by the diversity of their personalities. Entirely based on the autonomy of the dancers, each project requires periods of experimentation that she often initiates one-on-one. For her, each creation is an occasion to draw the portrait of her partners. She also creates films and is the author of two books for children.

with Suzon Holzer, Julie Salgues, Nathalie Collantes, Anita Praz / choreography Nathalie Collantes / light designer Sylvie Garot / sound Manuel Coursin

Nathalie Collantes is part of the 3-year residency-programme in Mains d’Œuvres.