"I duets are fundamental for us. They are at the origin of our history, and each one represents a particular event in the evolution of our research. These rare and privileged moments enrich our work with the company. At the same time, these face-to-face encounters are challenges we set for ourselves as performers, essential for recognizing and rediscovering the other." With these words, Joëlle Bouvier and Régis Obadia like to highlight to their audience the importance that the choreographic form of the duet has had and continues to have in their journey. This journey began in 1980 with the creation of a piece through which the couple immediately stood out for the vigorous and expressive impact of a writing that would later mark the history of contemporary dance over the last two decades. The duet was titled Regard perdu and won the fourth international choreography competition in Nyon that same year, unanimously receiving the first prize from the jury. Since then, Joëlle Bouvier and Régis Obadia, with their company L’Esquisse, have been a reference point for European contemporary choreography. With duets like Le noces d’argile (1981) and Welcome to Paradise (1989), and group pieces like Le royaume millénaire (1985), Derrière le mur (1986), Plein soleil (1992), L’Effraction du Silence (1994), or the recent creation dedicated to Antigone presented at this year's Montpellier festival, L’Esquisse is identified with a burning dance style, rich in encounters and clashes between bodies, heated dynamics, and emotional suspensions. The two artists explain: "Our work does not adhere to any particular technique. Only the awareness of the body and the presence of the actor are the essential and constant elements of our research. This physical study, closely linked to emotion, utilizes various contributions (energy, weight, spatial and relational dimensions, etc.) capable of generating expressive power."
Bouvier and Obadia's artistic references range from Tarkovski's films to Bacon's paintings, but also to Grotowski's thought, and to strong and diverse expressive styles such as Japanese butoh and Pina Bausch's dance theater. Their productions do not stop at live performances: lovers of cinema, they founded in '87, a year after being appointed directors of the National Choreographic Center of Le Havre, the film production and distribution company Les Films Angles d’Ailes with which they create award-winning short films and video clips. "Cinema," they confess, "has allowed us to seek, through the image, a new way of seeing the body." In '93, they received the most significant recognition: the appointment as directors of the CNDC of Angers, a historic place for the development of French contemporary dance, where professional training is combined with the creative activity of L’Esquisse and many choreographers invited to create works for the Center.
In Rovereto, L’Esquisse presents two shows: DEPECHE TOI!, a brand-new solo by Joëlle Bouvier inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, and the duo Indaten II. Co-produced by the Marseille festival in mid-July, DEPECHE TOI! was born from Bouvier's collaboration with actress Lilo Baur. It is a solo built around the metamorphic games and appearances that populate Carroll's tale. The choreographer explains: "This solo is not autobiographical; it does not tell my own story but uses it. It immerses itself in my dreams to distance itself, nourished by a broader, more universal memory. The presence of Lilo Baur at my side, her experience as an actress, encouraged me to explore territories that were previously unknown yet immediately familiar."
Indaten II, the second show staged in Rovereto, is the couple's latest duo. It reprises, without the on-stage confrontation between the two dancers and a singer, the eponymous duo from '97 (Indaten), inspired by the ancient myth of the incestuous love between Oedipus and Jocasta. Already with L’Irresponsabilité d’Apollon and Les Chiens, both from '96, Bouvier and Obadia had engaged with Greek tragedy, drawing from the Oresteia. With Indaten, the investigation continues, maintaining a constant relationship with the source, aimed not so much at reinterpreting the events in a contemporary setting as at recovering that vital thrill, enchantment, catharsis, and sense of ritual that pervades the tragedies. The couple points out: "In this new duo, we continue our foray into tragedies, because in the shadow of great myths, it is possible to speak about ourselves with utmost intimacy." The connection between theater and life from which Bouvier and Obadia, without succumbing to autobiographical tendencies but transforming personal inner emotions into incisive theatrical suggestions, draw the expressive and engaging strength of their shows.
