LA GRANDE PHRASE AIR

Bizarre and exhilarating, the cycle “GONFLES / Vehicles” by Compagnie Didier Théron elevates air to motor of creation. The figures of these works are dressed in inflated latex: it is the air inside and outside the costumes that generates forms and deformations, energy and dynamics. The game played between the air and the “augmented” dancer confers a cosmic value to these figures, which are “beyond norm” and equally accessible to everyone: their roundness evokes sacred characters of another age, or Miyazaki’s Totoro. LA GRANDE PHRASE begins as a written choreography and unfolds in the city. The inflated figures take possession of the world, creating a new link between dancers, space, audience, architecture and the roads passed through. In AIR, the pink inflated forms play with accumulations of scripted movement creating images that are both surprising and funny. 

Didier Théron is a French choreographer and dancer based in Montpellier. He trained with Merce Cunningham, Dominique Bagouet, Trisha Brown and with the zen master Harada Tangen in Japan. His company, founded in 1987, has been nominated for prestigious awards and received the first prize at the SETOUCHI International Contemporary Art Triennale in Japan for “GONFLES / vehicules” and the first prize at the International Choreography Competition Machol Shalem Dance House for “SHANGHAI BOLERO / The Men”. Compagnie Didier Théron presents works in major festivals and venues in Europe (including The Place, London; Tramway, Glasgow; Edinburgh Festival; Mousonturm, Frankfurt; Halleschen Ufer, Berlin; Sevilla Festival; Festival VEO, Valencia), Asia (Japan, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan), Australia and USA.