Ne faites pas la moue
De Natura Rerum. Nature?
Nature has been an object of speculation since the very origins of philosophy.
For many Presocratic philosophers, elements such as fire or water lay at the origin of our world. Others were interested in atoms, or sought a universal principle capable of accounting for phusis (nature in Greek).
There is something deeply delightful in bringing the philosophers’ concept of Nature — which profoundly questioned them — into resonance with Nature in dance, which has sometimes referred to it rather hastily, notably through the famous notion of “organic” movement. Today, it is especially compelling to connect histories of nature with ecological concerns. What is nature in our own time?
From Epicurus to Lucretius, and all the way to Clément Rosset, might we say that nature is our own creation? Nature, culture… and dance?
What exactly are dance and nature? A body is eminently cultural. So how are we to proceed?
Episode #4: vegetal, animal, grotesque, inhuman, all too human. With a body that persists. The rascal!
Perhaps an oriental body, imitating the crane, the turtle, aporia…
Our series is conceived through a constant desire to unite a rich spectacular dimension with simplicity of means (so as not to contradict our ecological concerns through our mode of production). This movement — currently championed by many artists — echoes the theme of this episode through a double interrogation: nature/culture — philosophical thought/organic body — artistic creation/modes of production.
Performance: Geisha Fontaine