ZAMEK Culture Centre

C.O.R.P.uS. enables the viewer become immersed in the mystery of the human body and its capacity for expression, at the same time revisiting some major figures in dance history. The performance begins like a scientific conference with live models. Soon enough though, the meeting is interrupted by ghosts, which seize the stage and take the persons there in their power. The spectres possess the bodies of live models to be incarnated as famous choreographers and dancers of the early 20th century. Through dance and gestures, figures such as Vaslav Nijinsky, Isadora Duncan, Mary Wigman, or Valeska Gert reveal some of their secrets.

Compagnie de l’Oiseau-Mouche is a centre of integration and at the same time a professional theatre company established in 1978. The permanent complement of the group is composed of 23 actors with learning disabilities. However, the company do not collaborate with one director only, and each performance represents the outcome of an artistic encounter of the actors and the invited professional. Since 2001, Compagnie de l’Oiseau-Mouche has had its own premises in Roubaix, a town in France. Supported by the French Ministry of Culture, the company boasts around 50 premieres and nearly 1,700 performances.

“C.O.R.P.uS. combines text and dance so as to gently introduce the viewer into history of dance, focusing in particular on the emergence of the so-called free dance. The artists of L’Oiseau-Mouche lend a particularly powerful expression to the theme of freedom of the body and feelings.”

                                                                      Sarah Nouveau

conceived and directed by - Sarah Nouveau

artistic support - Cédric Orain

featuring - Marie-Claire Alpérine, Lothar Bonin, Florian Caron, Frédéric Foulon, Léa Le Bars, Sarah Nouveau

photo by Aude-Marie Boudin

This performance is shown as part of the Common Theatre, an authorial performative arts programme at ZAMEK Culture Centre running since 2016. Common Theatre performances are created by milieus facing exclusion due to disability or social circumstances.