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9 autistic dancers dance around the audience

24th & 25th of January 2014 at 8pm

"Faits d’hiver" Festival in the ESAT "Turbulences!" marquee 12 Boulevard de Reims, 75017 Paris

At the centre of this new project is the question of undoing the prejudices against two worlds that seemed closed in on themselves – the worlds of autism and contemporary dance. Autism is defined by the medical profession as a disease that prevents a person from seeing the other part of themselves, their alter ego; whilst contemporary dance is judged by the general public as disconnected from reality and focused narcissistically on itself.

To change these preconceptions, we decided to "turn around": a movement that can be easily associated with autism, but also with being closed in on oneself, and off from the outside world. It is as though the repeated turns exercised a centripetal force that erased the outside world and prohibited any attempt at approaching from gaining access. When we say that an autistic person turns in on him- or herself, even if we refuse them the idea of "himself" or “herself”, we see them turning around nothing, on nothing, lost. A philosopher turning around their concepts or the world of contemporary dance revolving around their own navel - we sometimes perceive them as locked in their worlds. But it seems that these circling movement could be an invitation to others co create a common sharing. So it is "we" [ce serait plus correcte de dire “us” dans cette phrase, mais évidemment si tu vas pas changer le nom en anglais, il faudrait garder le “we”] that they seek in these autistic vortices. And we are there, frozen, locked inside our heads.

Here we propose to open up views on ‘turning around’, by offering viewers to sit not around but within the movement. While the choreography works through a process of wrapping, the dancers will blow up the fourth wall to engage the public in a direct experience, like the moving eye of a cyclone.

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Here are some web links to find out more about this work:

Interview with choreographer Anatoli Vlassov

"Danse élargie 2012" competition at Théâtre de la Ville de Paris with the same team

Oasis (film project with the same team) / Anatoli Vlassov

The Team

Concept, choreography: Anatoli Vlassov With and by: Matthias Bloess Aleksandar Boskovic, Thomas Dubois, Dany Levy-Willard, Benjamin Lesieur, Olivier Martin, Alexander Miriel Otto Do yap, André Pereira Specialized assistant: Guénolé Lebrun Project Assistants: Matthias Hermann and Gaetan Le Marchand Composer: Erik Minkkinen Hoods: Aurelie Kerbiquet Light: Philippe Gladieux Administrater: Sergio Chianca Thanks: Julie Salgues Dmitry Kourliandski Mary Bossennec Maxime Zambeaux Martina Musilova Dina Khuseyn Georges Heidman, Mathilde Rance Photos: Smaranda Olcese

Partners

Production: IDCore/Anatoli Vlassov Coproduction: ESAT SAS "Turbulence !" Philippe Duban director/Micadanses - ADDP, Paris Residence: Ménagerie de Verre - Studiolab Competition: This project also follows an initial 10 minute piece called "TOUS (ALL)", which was among the six finalists of "Danse élargie 2012" dance competition, organised by the Théâtre de la Ville de Paris. Premier: "Faits d’hiver 2014" Festival, Paris

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