Soufflette

Carte Blanche

A musical journey through centuries.

“In french slang, soufflette means blowing the smoke from one person’s mouth back into another’s. This is an intimate act during which one shares the most essential and yet ungraspable part of our existence: the air that keeps us alive and makes us high. To carry out a soufflette takes courage. With fabulous floral costumes, as well as crocheted outfits and in vocal harmony, the dancers embark on a challenging journey.

In the performance "Soufflette" a musical breath of the Middle Ages is blown through our lips that unite old and modern, dark and bright, natural and artificial.

Musical archives from 12th and 13th century keep the memories of the first attempts at composing polyphony in the western world. This is a fascinating moment where we can witness how an organized community creates its own architecture, builds a way to coexist and sing together. The memory of those first polyphonies blows into our mouths, lungs and bodies. They confront with contemporary anthems to create unheard pieces.- François Chaignaud

Duration 70 min (no interval)

Concept and choreography François Chaignaud Co-produced with Festspillene i Bergen Set design Romain Brau Lighting design Abigail Fowler Costume design Romain Brau Composition and arrangement Jostein Gundersen PR photo Helge Hansen Dance Ole Martin Meland, Mathias Stoltenberg, Caroline Eckly, Dawid Lorenc, Noam Eidelman Shatil, Daniel Mariblanca, Olha Stetsyuk, Adrian Bartczak, Irene Vesterhus Theisen, Harald Beharie, Timothy Bartlett, Aslak Aune Nygård, Chihiro Araki, Anne Lise Rønne.

ABOUT CARTE BLANCHE
We want to change the world. Having a public voice is a privilege that we can share with others. We want to work with choreographers who possess the drive and determination to address identity, nationality, borders, gender, diversity, minority, fellowship and empathy:Fierce artists – who create nuanced physical language and are willing to lay bare their vulnerabilities.We throw ourselves into these themes with great passion and engagement. We dedicate our competence, our being and our bodies to embody these visions, to manifest these ideas and bring them to our audience. For us, the audience is vital. The audience’s interpretations and opinions breathe new and extended life into art. We take our social responsibility seriously. We are ambitious. We always take risks – and we are not scared to fail. We are not fearless, but we cannot let fear rule our lives. www.carteblanche.no

ABOUT FRANCOIS CHAIGNAUD
François Chaignaud lives and works in Paris. He is a dancer, performance artist and singer, trained at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Danse de Paris and has collaborated with many choreographers (Charmatz, Huynh, Brun, Buffard).From “He’s One that Goes to Sea for Nothing but to Make him sick” (2004) to “Radio Vinci Park” (2016 - in collaboration with Theo Mercier), he has created performances in which dance and singing intersect, in a wide variety of environments and at the meeting points of many inspirations. From this tension the possibility of a body takes shape, inhabiting the space between the sensual rigour of movement, the evocative power of singing, and the convergence of heterogeneous historical references - from erotic literature (Aussi Bien Que Ton Cœur Ouvre Moi Les Genoux, 2008) to sacred art (Dumy Moyi, 2013). His last collaborations include works with visual artist Théo Mercier, Sophia Al Maria, with writer Anne james Chaton, artists Phia Ménard— Nosfell, Marie Caroline Hominal, Jérôme Marin and video maker César Vayssié. His work is shown worldwide.