FLÉAU

In the air, the whips whistle, snap and twirl. Their movement is led by the rigorous yet supple swaying of the arms of four men and women, whose extension they seem to be. The Swiss tradition of the Geisslenchlöpfer or whip-snappers, which draws on the pagan customs of carriage drivers and guides, inspired visual artist Agnès Geoffray to create a remarkable collective performance combining gesture and sound. Little by little, as the continuous blast of the flails becomes cadenced, and the bodies initially in a circle line up facing the audience, the cruel tool of coercion is transformed into an instrument of rhythmic flight. Passing through our collective memory, the performers’ gestures revive the incantatory force with which demons and evil spirits were once chased away with the deafening blows of flails on winter nights in the canton of Schwyz. The stage becomes the setting for a rite as sober as it is hypnotic, transforming the violence of yesteryear into a regenerative trance.

Agnès Geoffray

Agnès Geoffray holds a diploma in fine arts from Beaux-Arts de Lyon et Paris, and she was a resident in the Villa Medici in Rome in 2010. Her pieces have been shown widely and they have been added to several collections like the MNAM Centre Pompidou, FRAC Auvergne and the Antoine de Galbert Foundation. She works on concepts like having a hold on someone or something, being under the influence, domination or the body’s resistance, especially through performances which have been presented in the Em Festa event in Porto, in the Théâtre de Vanves, or in MAC VAL in Vitry-sur-Seine.