THE UNREACHABLE POINT OF SUSPENSION

#playful #fascinating

Few artists who come to Bonn for the Highlights of International Dance can be called pop stars. But Yoann Bourgeois is one who can. With 726,000 followers on Instagram, he’s both a media and an artistic phenomenon – always playfully in touch with the gravitational forces of life.

Yoann Bourgeois’ poetic performances are situated somewhere between circus, theatre and dance. In them he aims to »disarm time«, to overcome gravity and centrifugal forces. Another goal is for the forces that act upon a person both externally and internally to be yoked together in a delicate balance. On rotating or wobbly surfaces, and steps leading into empty space, he and his dance partner are accordingly in search of balance. Olga Scheps finds musical equivalences on the piano: for instance in the sweeping expanses of Franz Schubert and the imperturbable stability of Johann Sebastian Bach.

In Bonn, Yoann Bourgeois will perform alongside his wife Marie Bourgeois. The pieces to be presented are six of his »Approaches«, i.e. ways of entering into a dialogue with the body and with space, including CONTREPOINT, TABLE and ORBE. The choreographies are in some cases very short and make sparing use of decor.

Born in 1981, Yoann Bourgeois is an internationally recognised artist who works in the field of dance, theatre, music, visual installation and audiovisual art. He transcends boundaries and initiates a dialogue between artistic approaches and artistic spaces.

In association with Beethovenfest in Bonn

Yoann Bourgeois Art Company is supported by the Ministère de la Culture – Direction Générale de la Création Artistique, by the Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Département de l’Isère.

Programme:

Approach 1. Contrepoint

Concept and artistic direction: Yoann Bourgeois

Choreographic assistant: Marie Fonte

Performance: Yoann Bourgeois

Music: Contrepoint n°2 - L’Art de la fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach

Approach 3. Table

Concept, stage design and artistic direction: Yoann Bourgeois

Performance: Marie Bourgeois & Yoann Bourgeois

Approach 7. Hourvari

Concept, stage design and artistic direction: Yoann Bourgeois

Performance: Marie Bourgeois & Yoann Bourgeois

Decor: David Hanse, Nicolas Picot (C3 Sud Est) & Hervé Flandrin

Music: Wild Is The Wind by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington, performed by Nina Simone

Approach 9. Dialogue

Concept, stage design and artistic direction: Yoann Bourgeois

Performance: Marie Bourgeois & Yoann Bourgeois

Decor: David Hanse, Nicolas Picot (C3 Sud Est) & Christophe Rayaume

Approach 14. Orbe

Concept, stage design and artistic direction: Yoann Bourgeois

Choreography and performance: Marie Bourgeois

Decor: David Hanse, Nicolas Picot (C3 Sud Est) & Hervé Flandrin

Music: Auf dem Wasser zu singen by Franz Schubert, performed by Barbara Bonney and Geoffrey Parsons

Approach 17. Opening

Concept, stage design and artistic direction: Yoann Bourgeois

Performance: Yoann Bourgeois

Music: Opening by Philip Glass