Bryan Campbell

With the filibuster, the American political world has invented a strange performance. By means of this strategy, which consists of speaking continuously until the end of the day’s session, an opposition senator has the possibility of blocking the passage of a bill by forcing the postponement of its vote – a feat that Bryan Campbell is now bringing to the stage. During an eight-hour performance, the American choreographer submits himself to the same constraints as the politicians who use the filibuster. Like them, he will not lean on his desk, he will not eat, and he will not take a bathroom break. A piece that is both written and improvised, Janitor of Lunacy: a Filibuster allows the audience to leave and return as they please. Proposing a reflection on the interaction between the body and politics, this choreographed marathon fills time – the filibuster’s primary objective – with bravery and vulnerability.

Bryan Campbell is an American artist living in Paris. He studied at the Tisch School of the Arts (New York University) and at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, before joining the Exerce training programme at the CCN in Montpellier. He has performed with Loïc Touzé, DD Dorvillier and Marco Berrettini, favouring multi-disciplinary forms that combine image, text and choreography. His own works include MARVELOUS (2015), which associates a fashion magazine and a performance, and SQUARE DANCE (2019), inspired by the American social dance of the same name.