Invitation
to those I no longer have the chance to meet
to those who grew up in the same village as me
to those whose ideas differ from mine
to talk together, to imagine what new actions
could be undertaken in order to conceive
of a set of common ethics.
- 2018
Invitation
spectacle, danse, documentaire
1h30
Four performers between the ages of 11 and 75 reconstitute a collection of recorded voices that deal with notions such as democracy, constitution, autonomy, authority and justice. Through the voices of those who make up our societies – citizens, representatives of law enforcement, elected officials, philosophers, teenagers – INVITATION sounds out our relationship with the group, the common good, autonomy of thought and the rules that we establish as well as their limits.
With this ensemble of sensibilities and plurality of considerations all put on equal footing, the piece acts as an invitation to understand or rethink our constitution, to regularly reconsider our personal positions, to accept the possibility of changing our world view and perhaps even displace boundaries that have been imposed upon us.
A wager taken on the virtues of anti-conformism, like a conceivable course of action that could perhaps lead us – at some point, one day – to compose together.
Emergentia Festival Genève. 05.04 - 06.04.19
Théâtre Benno Besson Yverdon. 14.02.19
Arsenic Lausanne. 16.01 - 21.01.18
With INVITATION Claire Dessimoz continues the research into the superposition of movement and voice she initiated with her solo DU BIST WAS DU HOLST (2016).
INVITATION is a group piece composed of four solos that were in large part created separately with two professional dancers, one child and one older person.
INVITATION brings performers on stage who convey the speech of others and incarnate its content in a complementary manner – with both coherence and incoherencies. In this way they inject new or different meaning into the words they speak.
INVITATION deals with social questions related to democracy, the social contract, authority and justice – in its essence and most elemental functions. The theme of politics plays a central role in the piece and aims to encourage the confrontation of different points of view in regards to essential questions related to our common life. It also leads to questions of what is most desirable in terms of social organisation.
INVITATION proposes discourse that is both local and of the present and is intended for all audiences.
Concept and direction
Claire Dessimoz
Performance
Marie-Danielle Brunet, Philippe Chosson, Eléonore Heiniger
And in alternation
Joseph Chosson and Shirine Künzle
Set and light design
Florian Leduc
Music
Christian Garcia
Text (interviews/selection/montage)
Bruno Robyr and Claire Dessimoz
Dramaturgy
Dramaturgy
Costumes
Jenna Claderari
Artistic collaboration
Nicolas Raufaste
Collaboration texts related to the piece
Laurence Wagner
Administration
Marianne Caplan
Coproduction
Arsenic – Centre for contemporary performing arts, Lausanne.
Support
The City of Lausanne, the State of Vaud, Loterie Romande, Pour-cent culturel Migros, Fondation Nestlé pour l’Art.
Acknowledgements
The FAC/St-Ursanne, Nicole Seiler, Trân Tran, Simon Hildebrand, Raphaël Oesterlé, Philippe De Rham, Emma, the zinema, the team of the Arsenic and especially the numerous interlocutors and voices who contributed to the exchange of ideas and the sound archives.
Creation
January 2018 at Arsenic, Lausanne
