Gustavia

Gustavia brings together two choreographers with utterly divergent dance backgrounds who nevertheless are driven by common questions about the future of art and representation. Drawing on the techniques and codes of classical burlesque, Mathilde Monnier and La Ribot experiment with this art form of transformations and role reversals to test out its use in dance. With striking body language and a sense of humour, they also touch on timeless themes such as femininity, self-presentation and the theatre, in order to then ask the question of whether it is still possible today for an artist to exert an in uence on society.

La Ribot, a dancer, choreographer and visual artist, appropriates the various materials that come within her reach with exuberant energy. The series Pièces Distinguées, begun in 1993, has constantly branched out in all directions, breaking down the rigid boundaries between spaces and disciplines. She has worked in museums like Tate Modern and for the Ballet de Lorraine, as well as with Mathilde Monnier on the work Gustavia. In 2000, she embarked on a video project based on the ‘operating body’, offering a dizzying array of contradictory sensations, exemplified by Mariachi 17.
 

After coming to dance late, Mathilde Monnier performed in the dance companies of Viola Farber and François Verret before taking up choreography in 1984, creating group works, solos and duos. From one work to the next, she defied expectations by producing work that was endlessly fresh and new. Her work explores the inherent issues of composing movement and are also linked to broader questions like communality and the links to music and memory.
Her appointment as director of the Centre Choréographique National de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon in 1994 marked the beginning of a period of experimentation with other fields of art, and a reflection on the role of the institution and its outreach.
Her dances such as Pour Antigone, Déroutes, Les lieux de là, Surrogate Cities, Soapéra and Twin parado have been performed on the biggest stages, as well as at international festivals. She alternates solo projects and collaborative works with various figures from the art world, such as Katerine, Christine Angot, La Ribot and Heiner Goebbels.
Since January 2014, she has been the director of the CN D Centre National de la Danse based in Pantin and Lyon. Thanks to her influence, the CN D is today a dance centre and a place of indiscipline par excellence, continually appropriating other art forms and forging new links with them.