Mathilde Monnier & La Ribot dans Gustavia

In a profusion of black velvet, from the edges of the stage to the floor, La Ribot and Mathilde Monnier – in leotards and shoes, also black – engage in a burlesque act where the expenditure of energy, repetition and accident create an irresistible comic tension – between a knee striptease and verbal logorrhea. With its techniques of reversal, blow and dodging, classic burlesque is the art of transforming incompetence into competence. This is precisely the path followed by Gustavia, false stage name of a woman attempting to speak about grand subjects that exceed her and about her profession as an artist. With Gustavia, the two choreographers evoke both contemporary art and their way of working, throughout a piece that the passing years have charged with new meaning. When they created it in 2008 at the Montpellier Danse festival, La Ribot and Mathilde Monnier already knew each other very well and used it to take stock of their respective lives and careers, thus continuing a conversation begun fifteen years earlier. Their choreographic practices notably share borrowing their vocabulary from other aesthetics, starting with theatre. They reactivate the piece today in light of the feminist movements (such as #MeToo) that have emerged since. With this feminine plea, they offer a new interpretation, even darker, funnier and punchier, of two free women facing the world and violence with humor and poetry.

Vincent Théval

Duration : 1h

Category :

Dance

Theatre