The readers (a participatory performance)

En bref

The Readers; because the principle of the performance is based on everybody following instructions written in a booklet, and a soundtrack inviting the audience to read those instructions and carry them out. There are no sitting spectators; everyone is placed in the field of action.

Collective Choreographies; in the plural because each spectator/actor has not exactly the same booklet. The space, transformed for the occasion into a slightly peculiar dance floor, becomes the setting for four different choreographies, that sometimes come together, that allow actions that are as complementary as they are antagonistic or even divergent trajectories bordering on clumsy misunderstandings…

Continuous reinvention, because the project allows many different configurations: adaptation of the place (stage, theatre hall, exhibition space, outside) and the adaptation of the context (autumnal performance, before-performance at a festival, art exhibition opening, inauguration of a space), or even including dancers or not, lighting design, incorporating a video display or a sound installation.

In detail

At their arrival, spectators receive a booklet. When the booklets are distributed, the spectator is told that participation is optional, but that the most difficult thing to do in the booklet is a ‘subtle swaying of the hips’. So it’s up to them how they participate. Everything is put in place so that any apprehension felt makes way quickly for an atmosphere of amusement and fun.
Postures, movements and minute gestures are carried out during a fixed time marked by the soundtrack, between 30 seconds to 2 minutes per action. The performance lasts between 20 and 50 minutes.

Bit by bit the spectators understand and start to observe the others who don’t have exactly the same booklet.
Based on everyday life gestures, the instructions alternate between giving an awareness of the body:

‘One minute to observe your breathing’

or an awareness of the space :

‘Follow the contour of the room with your eyes’

Others attract attention to other participants;

‘Make your way slowly and imperceptibly towards someone of your choice, fixing your stare on their right ear‘

or even to create a relationship;

‘Without cheating, wait for the musical signal and then do a half-turn; with the person you find directly behind you, launch into a passionate discussion about the colour of their eyes.’

Certain actions provoke a movement as a group, whilst others create micro-situations. Others invite the reader to be a spectator of the dancing of the other groups for one or two pages.

 

 

 

ADAPTABILITY / CONTINUOUS REINVENTION

Technically, the original version of The Readers includes the distribution of the booklets and soundtrack played in the space, but the proposition can be enriched by other parameters :
•    Lighting design creates zones of colour. As well as making the space more comfortable and sometimes even spectacular, it helps move the audience around:
‘Walk backwards towards the blue zone, all the while observing the movement of the people in the red zone’
•    Video allows the public to become again the spectator of the collective choreography; a camera fixed to the ceiling projects a live video of the action.
•    The addition of dancers allows another way for the spectators to dance using imitation.
‘A Catalogue of Allowed Movements at a Cocktail Party – mirror the movements of the dancer.’
•    The sound installation creates a materialisation of the space; voices and noises are worked into the soundtrack to inhabit the space.
‘ Put your body to the test by following the origin of the sound with your eyes, with your feet fixed to the ground. Bend your knees to allow more movement in the chest.’

The Readers is a modular performance and adaptable for different situations. Each time it is rich with encounters as well as inducing a shift in the way we look at our everyday gestures, considering them as choreography.

Cast

Conception : David Rolland ;

Sound design : Roland Ravard

With 2 or 4 dancers : David Rolland, Valeria Giuga, Fani Sarantari, Anthony Cazaux, Cyril Accorsi, Myriam Berlande (alternately)

Partners : Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication - DRAC des Pays-de-la-Loire, Ville de Nantes, Conseil Général de Loire-Atlantique.

Gallery

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