For the first time, Oriente Occidente audiences have the opportunity to appreciate Claude Brumachon through a series of different performances, a kind of overview of the French Choreographic Centre he directed and its many activities. An exponent of the Nouvelle Danse, Brumachon approached choreography by chance. Enrolled by his father, a worker with a passion for painting, at the evening school of Fine Arts, he was initiated into dance by a companion he met during lessons. His artistic career saw him alongside contemporary personalities such as Daniel Larrieu, Philippe Decouflé, Karine Saporta and Mideyki Yano. In '84 he founded his own nucleus of dancers together with his partner Benjamin Lamarche, with whom he has been directing since '96 the National Choreographic Centre of Nantes, which started its activity in '92. The daily objective of the artistic duo Brumachon-Lamarche focuses on the development of dance in general and particularly on the evolution of contemporary dance. The dissemination of the performances produced takes place through careful capillary programming that touches not only theatres, but also the less conventional spaces in the regional, national and international territory with the aim of reaching a wide audience. Other important Choreographic Centres, such as Le Ballet du Rhin, Le Ballet de Marseille and Le Ballet du Nord, commission his creations. In Rovereto, Brumachon presents his Company and his Centre, offering an articulate performance of duets, solos and group performances, created over the last four years. Icare is a delicate monologue, created by Brumachon in '96 for Benjamin Lamarche, in which he describes the metamorphosis of man who becomes a bird. The dancer is the one who most manages to get closer to his 'animality' and tries to 'fly' and on stage feels like a 'demigod of myth'. Brumachon writes: 'I experienced this solo as a breath. I felt a breath, perhaps the breath of a man in flight, freeing himself by dancing. Icare is not the image of an impossibility, but much more. It is not about the bird-man, but about a larger work, an inner quest to try to arrive at a new gesture, a new way of perceiving space. He who wants to reduce this solo to a pure illustration will be mistaken, because it is something quite different'. La femme qui voulait parler avec le vent is another solo from last year. This time the performer is a woman, Claire Richard, who is surrounded by a series of objects that allow her to 'fly' with her imagination: the air from a fan and a long yellow feather held in her mouth lead her to the simulation of a bird in flight. The protagonist is thus a "dreamer, seeking a new direction for her flighty spirit in the limbo of an imaginary dream". Poèmes dansés is a '99 creation composed of three duets in homage to the poetry, works and strong personalities of Rimbaud, Baudelaire and Pasolini. La fracture de l'âme is performed by Benjamin Lamarche and Isabelle Terruel, who portray two disjointed, candid and clumsy dancers performing a playful, limp ballet where everything lacks balance. Rimbaud's poems inspired Brumachon for this choreography, which recalls the French poet's non-conformist personality and taste for the absurd. Dandy harks back to Baudelaire's contrasting red and black universe. Another duet, performed this time by Brumachon himself and Vèronique Redoux: together they represent a chance encounter, which results in a dance of romantic and passionate colours. Embrasés closes the triptych and is a homage to Pasolini's verses. Brumachon and Lamarche, in a series of "sequences... danced", explore Pasolini's universe by offering a set of verses, a "love poem for dance, an accomplice and shocking poetry". Una vita (A Life) is a performance from '96, whose performance involves an open space where a bus is placed from which fragments of danced life emerge. It is a series of everyday scenes with bizarre apparitions mixed with the current tragic reality of loneliness, racism and general paranoia typical of cities. As if by magic, Andersen's Little Mermaid, the witch from The Wizard of Oz, an elf, the wolf come to life. 'A free creation,' explains Brumachon, 'for spectators who are free to feel a sudden and subtle emotion. ... A Life is a human gaze on other human gazes. My gaze is like a sponge, a choreographic attempt that explores fragments of human societies, of different races and cultures'. Humains dites-vous! It is a 1998 creation that refers to historical events of the 16th century, one of the darkest periods for France due to religious wars. Events that are related by Brumachon, in a work steeped in pictorial folklore, with those of the 20th century to arrive at the conclusion that man is in eternal conflict with himself and is always on the verge of declaring war on his neighbour. And wars in the name of so-called 'faith' are perhaps the ultimate in liberation and intolerance. The French choreographer poses the disturbing question: 'What right does a human being have to kill his fellow man in the name of a religion? ...It is thanks to my curiosity as an artist that I was able to try my hand at reading between the lines'.
