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This project proposes to create a musical score for a piece by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui that premiered in London with the National Youth Dance Company, was restaged at the Folkwang Universität der Künste, and is now performed by amateur dancers from the group led by Ghislaine Tétier, De l’Air dans l’art (Fresnes). Composed of material from "Babel (words)" (2010), "Noetic" (2014), and "Loin" (2005), Frame[d] showcases some of the fundamental characteristics of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s dance: the contrast between “sharp” and fluid movements, the highly elaborate arm work, the importance of listening, …

Focusing on the work of Léon Bleuniadur’s Ensemble des arts et traditions populaires, the project aims to create a score for an iconic six-minute piece for sixteen dancers—a dance from the “gavotte à chaîne fermée” tradition practiced in the Pays Fisel region of central Lower Brittany, choreographed in 2015 by Anthony Prigent. Led by Fabrice David, an ethnologist and specialist in traditional Breton dances, the project explores thought-provoking fundamental questions: What do we know about the distinctive features of these dances, and what measures are being taken to promote their transmission…

Seeking to address some of the challenges in understanding Alwin Nikolais’s choreographic system, the project examines three fundamental concepts of his philosophy of the body and dance movement: decentering, convergence, and Gestalt. This approach to dance, which sought to deconstruct the body by subverting its habitual movements and emphasizing abstraction, paved the way for a heightened awareness of the body—a soma-aesthetic philosophy that developed proprioceptive tech niques and an ecological and democratic conception of movement as participation. In doing so, the project explores some of…

The project explores the gestural knowledge and physicality of the dances of Eshou, a deity in Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion. The fieldwork conducted in the state of Bahia focuses on capturing the cross-cutting elements that inform the dance: kinesthesia, the imagination, and ritual, mythological, historical-social, political, and identity-related dimensions. Thanks to the collaboration of notation specialist Benesh Johanna Classe and Laban movement analyst Lenira Rengel, the analysis covers body postures, movement qualities, joint organization, the relationship to weight, support, and…

This project aims to develop a prototype application and web platform dedicated to writing, publishing, and sharing choreographic scores using Laban notation. With a focus on sustainability and data integrity (in light of the accelerated obsolescence of digital content), this research aims to address a variety of current needs: a semantic approach to musical notation, the separation of content from its formatting, explicit specification of the composition system, open protocols and formats, a responsive and intuitive interface, integration of hypermedia content, indexing, and advanced search c…

Following the interviews conducted with Lisa Nelson (available on Sarma’s platform, Oral Site), this project presents sixteen interviews with Steve Paxton conducted in the early 2000s by Myriam van Imschoot, in which Steve Paxton discusses key moments in his life and in the history of dance: his early experiences with dance alongside José Limón and Merce Cunningham, his work with Judson Church, the founding of Grand Union, the development of improvisation, and his fascination with the everyday body, and transhistorical themes such as ecology, sexuality, and models of artistic practice. The pro…

While organizing the archiving of Mandapa’s documents, the project offers an analytical and critical examination of the role that this Parisian institution—founded by Milena Salvini in 1975 and dedicated to so-called “traditional” arts (movement-based arts primarily from India but open to all cultures of the world)—has played in the discovery, dissemination, and transmission of the world’s dances. In doing so, it sheds light on a little-known aspect of the history of contemporary dance in France.Having nurtured European creativity for decades, the Mandapa was also a stimulating venue for inter…

By introducing new models of 3D animation for expressive movement, this dynamic archive project—in the form of an interactive installation—allows visitors to physically experience a repertoire of Isadora Duncan’s dances. Captured and then digitized using motion capture and video, the motor characteristics of her dance—its dynamic qualities and bodily organization—were transformed, through geometric abstraction techniques, into lines of action and spatio-temporal sketches. The prototype of the installation was tested by performers from two different generations of the Duncanian tradition of thi…

The project aims to compile and contextualize the archives produced by the Atelier Contact. Founded in 1978 by S. Cotto, D. Silhol, M. Tompkins, É. Veyron, A. Fournier, M. Muffat-Joly, and P. Riou—after they met John Cage, Steve Paxton, and Lisa Nelson at the Fêtes musicales de la Sainte-Baume—the Atelier Contact became the Danse Contact Improvisation association in 1979, established a branch in Nice in 1981, and organized the first international gathering, which took place in 1982 at Sainte-Baume. It was dissolved in 1985.

Drawing on a collection of teachers’ accounts of their practices and the unique nature of Martha Graham’s teaching methodology, the project aims to contribute to a specific body of knowledge: In contrast to prevailing approaches (which focus primarily on forms, exercises, counts, aesthetics, and movement), this study focuses on the principles of dance, the doctrine, and the diversity of teaching practices. A fundamental question drives the project: How can we ensure that Graham’s legacy is passed on faithfully?

This project aims to define and transcribe into Laban notation the fundamental movements of flamenco dance (arm movements, foot stomps, and footwork)—whether generic or specific to a particular palo—which give them a unique rhythmic and physical character, in a relationship that is equally specific to the music and singing. This “ABC” that everyone goes through during their learning and training, and in their dancing, also serves as a foundation for the original works of choreographers such as the bailaora Mercedes Ruiz.