Maud Blandel — I L K A
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Trained in contemporary dance (Toulouse), in directing (Manufacture, Lausanne) and visual arts (HEAD, Geneva), Maud Blandel has been developing her own choreographic pieces since 2015. Singular and physical, each of her works relies on a musical conceptual base in order to put into body and form phenomena altered by the passage of time. She has worked on the notion of sacrificed body and the mise en spectacle of the female body (TOUCH DOWN, 2015), on the folklorization of popular dance practices (Lignes de conduite, 2018), and on the act of killing time via a 17th century musical entertainment called Divertimento (Diverti Menti, 2020).
In parallel to her activities she has worked as an assistant with Cindy Van Acker, Karim Bel Kacem, Heiner Goebbels and Romeo Castellucci.
Since 2016, Maud Blandel has been supported by Parallèle in production and dissemination. She has been artist-in-residence at the Arsenic - center d'art scénique contemporain de Lausanne since September 2018, associate artist at the Cndc, Centre national de danse contemporaine, Angers and at Bonlieu Scène nationale Annecy.
L'œil nu
Maud Blandel — I L K A
Creation 2023
*Formed after the explosion of the heart of a massive star, a pulsar is a celestial body spinning at very high speed.
Maud Blandel — I L K A
Choreography and interpretation
Music
Diverti Menti
Maya Masse, Maud Blandel — I L K A
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Choreography and performance
Maya Masse (danseuse), Simon Aeschimann (guitare), Serge Bonvalot (tuba), Antoine Françoise (piano), et en alternance avec Samuel Fried (piano) et Flavio Virzi (guitare)
In collaboration with
Regard Extérieur
Création 2020
Lignes de conduite (Lines of conduct)
Maud Blandel — I L K A
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Original music by
Scenography
Coproductions
Création 2018
Since ever, every culture knew to invent its own trance rituals, in order to free the captive souls of a community. No matter the fictional system of the ritual, in any case it is a matter of crossing: a state of rapture, or the possibility of getting out of oneself, during a limited time.
For her second play, Maud Blandel chooses to investigate one of these rituals: tarantism. Popular healing rite in the South of Italy, mixing christianity, magic practices, and musical catharsis, it not only attests to the warding off forms established by a society, but it gives as well an account of a whole section of the evolution of cultural balances of power. At first from telluric origin, and then religious one, tarantism is today exploited by a ferocious tourist-festive industry.
Formal play for four female dancers, « Lignes de conduite » chooses to recount the evolution of the phenomenon of possession, with the purpose of questioning poetically what may have produced the spectacularization (turning-into-a-show) of such practices.
TOUCH DOWN (time out)
Maud Blandel — I L K A
TOUCH DOWN (time out) chooses as investigation ground the sideline of US universities and as topic their popular icons: the cheerleaders. Now unavoidable figures of this ritual, they have a central part in the sport/show ceremony: fill the void of downtime.
Maud Blandel makes the most of the last week-end of the exhibition « Nous sommes foot » (We are soccer) to try out the stage piece TOUCH DOWN by readapting it in a museum version. The Mucem visitors will meet these dancers with permanent smiles who, during 6 hours, lose their breath while filling the void. The piece will be activated or not, depending on the route of the audience. TOUCH DOWN has been shown in its stage version at the Merlan, national stage, on 30 January as part of Parallèle —6.
En coréalisation avec le Mucem
Avec le soutien de Pro Helvetia
Maud Blandel animera un atelier de pratique artistique pour enfants au Théâtre de l’Œuvre.
Plein tarif 9.5 € | Tarif réduit 5€ (billet d’entrée aux expositions)
Réservation et achat sur place auprès du Mucem | www.mucem.org
TOUCH DOWN
Maud Blandel — I L K A
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(pdf - 933 KB)
Coproduction
Création 2015
Once, the Gods of the stadium said:
"Here, young ladies, here is our time-out. Use it right. »
The teenage girls stretched out their hands and accepted the gift.
But were they even aware of the burden they had inherited: the killing of time (through "entertainment") which may also mean the time of their own killing?
What if the masterpiece by Stravinsky had something to do with a cheerleader? What if a parallel existed between a human offering of the Rite of Spring and the tragic fate of a female supporter?
Confronting high culture and popular culture, "noble" and "ig-noble", Maud Blandel stages five dancers in a ballet with exacerbated physicality, where bodies confront themselves to the power of music and light. In the limelight, opposite the Gods of the stadium and her delirious fans, the cheerleader performs a series of acts. But what ideology is she the icon of? Twisting up to a desecrating point the patterns of her codified performance, Touch Down redraws contemporary folklore, where anxiety emerges in front of the sacrifice of the female body.
=> Watch teaser here !
Diffusion KOMM'N'ACT - plateform for young international creation - suports Maud Blandel in the diffusion of TOUCH DOWN
Production I L K A
Coproduction Arsenic – centre d’art scénique contemporain, Lausanne (CH) ; Les Subsistances, Laboratoire international de création artistique, Lyon (FR) - aide à la résidence
Supports Ville de Lausanne ; Loterie Romande ; Service culturel Migros Vaud ; Fondation Ernst Göhner ; Fondation Nestlé pour l’Art ; Pro Helvetia - Fondation suisse pour la culture, Corodis, Pour-cent culturel Migros
Creation December 10th 2015 at Arsenic - centre d'art scènique contemporain, Lausanne
