Boris Charmatz envisions a choreographic forest where no gesture is ever repeated, thus paying tribute to the very ephemeral nature of dance. A shower of movements that could’ve been generated by mathematical algorithms, but that has an artisanal approach here, based on the bodies of the performers. Each gesture is absolutely subjective, it is shown only once, and it vanishes after being executed. After taking over the São Bento da Vitória Monastery with “Manger” in 2016, the French choreographer who took the main hall at MoMA, in New York, and the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, in London, by surprise with his Musée de la danse [Dance Museum], continues this project. “10000 gestes” [10000 Gestures] may be a part of the catalogue of this choreographic anti-museum when setting up an anti-collection, given that no choreographer would risk embrace so many gestures in his score, nor could this piece ever be understood any other way but based on his own idea. With no chance of being preserved, this unrepeatable gesture seems to reach the audience in a hypnotic and even meditative way. The visual chaos of a movement that is never completed by another creates the illusion of stillness. In this piece it is impossible to shake someone’s hand.


Boris Charmatz is a dancer and choreographer. He was the director of Musée de la danse [Dance Museum] / National Choreographic Centre of Rennes and Bretagne between 2009 and 2018, and is now the director of Terrain. He is the author of a series of landmark pieces, from “Aatt enen tionon” (1996) to “10000 gestes” [10000 Gestures] (2017), in addition to his activity as a performer. Invited to the MoMA in 2013, Boris Charmatz staged “Musée de la danse: Three Collective Gestures”, a three-part programme performed at the museum over the course of three weeks. Following an invitation in 2012, Boris Charmatz was once again hosted by Tate Modern in London, in 2015, where he presented “If Tate Modern Was Musée de la danse?” Charmatz is the author of several books, including “Entretenir: à propos d’une danse contemporaine” (Centre national de la danse / Les presses du réel, 2003), co-authored with Isabelle Launay, “Je suis une école” (Editions les Prairies Ordinaires, 2009), and “Emails 2009–2010” (Les presses du réel in partnership with Musée de la danse, 2013), co-authored with Jérôme Bel.


• FEBRUARY • 26 & 27 
Co-Presentation
With Teatros del Canal