Created by Aurélien Bory for Kaori ItoA Compagnie 111 production

11 Feb–6 Mar 2016 | perthfestival.com.au

PLEXUSAurélien Bory

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Cover image: Aglae Bory

CREATIVE AND PRODUCTION TEAM

Conception, scenography and direction Aurélien Bory

Choreography Aurélien Bory, Kaori Ito

Performer Kaori Ito

Music Joan Cambon

Lighting design Arno Veyrat

Stage and manipulation Tristan Baudoin

Sound Stéphane Ley

Costumes Sylvie Marcucci

Dramatic art adviser Taïcyr Fadel

Set – technical conception Pierre Dequivre

Set construction Atelier de la fiancée du pirate

Prototype construction Pierre Gosselin

Machinery Marc Bizet

Technical direction Arno Veyrat

Sound management Stéphane Ley

Light management Carole China

Stage management François Saintemarie

Production direction Florence Meurisse

Production assistance Marie Reculon

Plexus is a Compagnie 111 co-production with Le Grand T théâtre de Loire Atlantique, Nantes; Théâtre de Vidy-Lausanne; Théâtre de la Ville, Paris; Le Parvis Scène Nationale Tarbes-Pyrénées; Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg; La Coursive Scène Nationale, La Rochelle; Agora Pôle National des Arts du Cirque, Boulazac.

Residencies and rehearsals: Le Grand T théâtre de Loire Atlantique, Nantes; Théâtre Garonne scène Européenne, Toulouse; and Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne. With the help of: L’Usine scène conventionnée pour les arts de la rue, Tournefeuille Toulouse Métropole.

Compagnie 111: Aurélien Bory is under funding agreement with Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Direction Régionale Midi-Pyrénées; Région Midi-Pyrénées; Ville de Toulouse; and Conseil Départemental de la Haute-Garonne.

Aurélien Bory is an associated artist of Le Grand T théâtre de Loire Atlantique in Nantes, an invited artist of TNT (Théâtre National de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées) and a supported artist of Théâtre de l’Archipel scène nationale de Perpignan.

CHOREOGRAPHER’S NOTE

Once again, my aim was to depict the portrait of a woman, not in the ways of a painter, a photographer or a writer, all very superior in the matter, but I brought body and space into play as the sole focal lens. And dance as the first perspective.Conceiving Kaori Ito’s portrait with the means of the stage has been a whole process. The scenic device was not a concept we started with. Its design has resulted from a long research period, after several weeks of rehearsal.

On the first days, among other ideas and trials, I had a life-size puppet made. It was a very realistic scale model of Kaori. ‘Here is your dance teacher,’ I told her. Kaori spent many hours observing and mimicking its movements. From this creation draft, I only kept the strings and unfurled them into the whole space. The marionette remained in Kaori’s body.

Out of the strings, I composed a tangible, alive space; a forest of threads where a metaphysical tragedy emerged. It tied strong links with Japan. Of course, I did not mean to give a ‘Japanese’ impression, but Kaori comes with her own story and assesses her estrangement. I did not want to turn away from this. Some myths from Japan, some recurring motifs, kept surfacing. On the one hand, the idea of spiritual ties with the deceased and with one’s ancestors; on the other hand, a relationship to the body, where beauty has an intrinsic dark side, mingled with disappearance and self-effacement. Plexus burgeons from the innermost, from the anatomical network of nerves, which can be our Achille’s heel; here, the network of strings, reminiscent of the Latin etymology of the word ‘plexus’ – interweaving. The dramaturgy evolves from the inner self, from before life itself, to the thoroughly externality of after-death when the body disappears and dissolves, when the being merges with the myth. I hoped that Kaori’s dance, sometimes hindered to the point of immobility by an impossibly constraining space, could offer us a glimpse of the dialogue between inner and outer worlds.

After the premiere at Vidy, a journalist reminded me that after the long immobility sessions Isadora Duncan inflicted upon herself, she reported having located the central spring of every movement at the plexus. ‘The solar plexus lifted the body up, towards the au-delà’.

Aurélien Bory

FRANCE/JAPAN

Aurélien Bory

PLEXUSAUSTRALIAN EXCLUSIVE

HEATH LEDGER THEATRE, STATE THEATRE CENTRE OF WA Wed 17–Sat 20 Feb

This performance runs for 60 minutes, no interval

Aurélien Bory Conception, scenography and direction, choreography

Born in 1972, Aurélien Bory is a director. He heads up Compagnie 111, which was founded in 2000 and is located in Toulouse. Bory develops a ‘physical theatre’, singular and hybrid – a cross-breed of converging fields in the performing arts (theatre, circus, dance, visual arts, music etc). His productions have toured around the world and his international renown began with Plan B (2003) and Plus ou moins l’infini (2005), both created in collaboration with Phil Soltanoff. Bory’s most recent pieces are Azimut (2013), created at Grand Théâtre de Provence in Aix-en-Provence; Plexus (2012), created at Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne; Géométrie de caoutchouc (2011), created at Le Grand T théâtre in Nantes; and Sans objet (2009), created at Théâtre national de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées. In 2007, he created Les Sept Planches de la ruse (2010 PIAF) with artists from Dalian in China.

Bory’s other credits include Erection (2003) and Arrêts de jeu (2006), for which he directed choreographer, Pierre Rigal; two portraits of women – Questcequetudeviens? (2008) for flamenco dancer, Stéphanie Fuster, and Plexus (2012) for Japanese dancer, Kaori Ito; Vincent Delerm’s concert, Les Amants parallèles (2014); installation-performance, Sans objet, for Nuit Blanche in Paris; and plastic installation, Spectacula (2015), for Le Voyage à Nantes.

In 2015, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse invited Bory to direct and work on the scenography for two operas – The Castle of Blue Beard by Béla Bartók and Il prigioniero by Luigi Dallapiccola. Bory is currently preparing his 11th show, Espèce d’espace, inspired by Georges Perec’s work.

Kaori Ito Performer

Kaori Ito was born in Tokyo where, at age five, she started studying classical ballet with Syuntoku Takagi. When she turned 18, she was awarded ‘best young dancer and choreographer’ by Ryouiti Enomoto. In 2000, she left Japan for New York State University, Purchase College, where she joined the dance department. She then continued her training at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater in 2003.

From 2003 to 2005, Ito danced the main role for Philippe Découflé’s creation, Iris, and also worked on Angelin Preljocaj’s Les 4 Saisons. In 2006, she was a member of James Thiérrée’s cast for Au revoir Parapluie; their collaboration then extended to two other projects – Raoul and Tabac Rouge. In 2008, Ito assisted Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in choreographing the film, Le bruit des gens autour, and she was a soloist in Guy Cassiers’ opera, The House of the Sleeping Beauties. That same year, she presented her own creation, Noctiluque, and also choreographed Edouard Baer’s production, Looking for Mister Castang.

Ito’s own creations have also included Solos (2009) and Island of No Memories (2010), which won first prize at (Re)connaissance (national competition for contemporary choreographers).

In 2011, Ito started collaborating with Denis Podalydès – dancing with him on Le Cas Jekyll 2 and choreographing his Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, as well as his creation of Emmanuel Bourdieu’s L’homme qui se hait. She is currently working on another collaboration with Podalydès, this time of his creation of Victor Hugo’s Lucrèce Borgia at the Comédie Française.

The State Theatre Centre of WA is managed by Perth Theatre Trust

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