Compagnie 111 / Aurélien Bory for Kaori Ito
www.cie111.com
| Performed by: | Kaori Ito |
| Conception, scenography and direction: | Aurélien Bory |
| Choreography: | Kaori Ito |
| Music: | Joan Cambon |
| Lighting design: | Arno Veyrat |
| Stage manager: | Tristan Baudoin |
| Sound: | Stéphane Ley |
| Costumes: | Sylvie Marcucci |
| Research and adaptation: | Taїcir Fadel |
| Set construction: | Pierre Gosselin |
| Machinery: | Marc Bizet |
| Technical direction: | Arno Veyrat |
| Production: | Florence Meurisse, Christelle Lordonné, Marie Reculon |
| Produced by: | Compagnie 111 - Aurélien Bory |
| Co-produced by: | Le Grand T théâtre de Loire-Atlantique – Nantes, Théâtre Vidy – Laussanne (Suiza), Théâtre de la Ville – Paris, Le Parvis scène nationale Tarbes Pyrénées – Ibos, Les Théâtres de la Ville du Luxembourg – Luxemburgo, La Coursive scène nationale – La Rochelle, Agora Pôle national des arts du cirque – Boulazac |
Aurélien Bory (born in Colmar, France, in 1972) is a creator who enjoys surprising his audience with a spectacular art that combines circus, dance and visual theatre. Confronted with his highly original stagings, international critics ask themselves: ‘Are we talking about theatre, a new kind of circus, about dance, or new technologies? His projects contain all those aspects, but we can definitely talk about prestidigitation onstage, about true magic, a SHOW in capital letters, in the most absolute sense of the term’. In Plexus, his latest adventure onstage, the French artist has created a tailor-made piece for Kaori Ito seeking poetic and equally empiric visual answers.
What deep traces remain etched in the memory of a brain that has devoted its life to dance? The physical replica of each muscle can be seen in a dancer’s body, in this case in Kaori Ito’s body. The word Plexus refers to the muscular system’s internal mechanisms, the nervous impulses responsible for each body movement, oscillation or vibration. As Bory himself explains: ‘The way I intended to portray Kaori Ito mostly implied portraying her body: a study of the innermost marks her dance has carved in her living body’.
And as he further elaborates: ‘I’m not interested in an anatomical study, but in the memory of a body substantially shaped by dance’. For this purpose he used a life-size puppet made resembling Ito. Finally, he decided to keep onstage only its strings and have Ito be the puppet that lets her bonds and ties flow metaphorically and metaphysically: with Japan, with her ancestors or with the ephemeral condition of physical beauty. ‘Time after time, Bory establishes the equation of success. As if he had an unrevealed mathematical formula for surprise and charm’ Le Figaro has said.
The word Plexus comes from the late period Latin and means ‘intertwining’. Later on, the ordinary sense of the term used in the context of anatomy meant ‘the network of nerves or blood vessels’. The very definition of the word refers to the muscles’ inner mechanics: the impulses from the nervous system and the flow of oxygenated blood, as well as the external mechanics of dance: intertwining of movements, drifting, bodies and body parts. ‘The way I intended to portray Kaori Ito mostly implied portraying her body’, Bory confirms.
How has every cell taken part in this wonderful network of muscle tissue? How has dance shaped, sculpted and eventually expanded of crippled her inner space? Plexus deals with a dialogue between Kaori’s inner world and the outside world. Isn’t this dialogue one of the quintessential features of the universal human experience? Isn’t this also the hub of our frailties? Plexus’ world premiere took place in November 2012 at the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne in Switzerland. In Spain, before coming to Madrid within the 33rd Edition of the Festival de Otoño a Primavera, it could be seen in March 2014 at the Teatro Central in Seville.