Merce Cunningham / Miguel Gutierrez

Conceived for the jubilee of the CCN – Ballet de Lorraine, this programme brings together two pieces at a distance of fifty years, putting in perspective the memory of several eras and the views of two generations of choreographers. Exemplary in its way of crossing media, Merce Cunningham’s RainForest associates flesh-coloured costumes designed by Jasper Johns and the installation Silver Clouds by Andy Warhol – floating pillows inflated with helium – to embody childhood memories. Cradled by the composition by David Tudor, it reconstitutes the atmosphere of a tropical forest, inhabited by the presence of wild animals. As for Miguel Gutierrez, he convokes the memory of the social movements of the 1960s while affirming their topicality. This concerns all of us thus celebrates the events of May 1968, while reviving the energy of this uprising. On stage or in the hall, a combative community exchange their costumes or move around in an opaque smoke, defying assigned identities, as though the formless were the precondition for a subversive movement.