Retour en Avant / Past Forward Biennale de la Danse Lyon - France

Ted StofferTed Stoffer is an Americanwho lives in Belgium.He regularly holds classes forcompanies including Rosas, UltimaVez, Charleroi Danses, Michèle AnneDe Mey, Sasha Waltz and Guests, LesBallets C de la B and DV8 at the PARTS school inBrussels and at the ImPulsTanz festival in Vienna.Over the past 15 years, besides his teaching activities,Stoffer has danced for several Europeancompanies. In 1997, he founded Aphasia DanceCompany. In 2002, he was commissioned tocreate choreographic works by the Norrdanscompany in Sweden and by Ballet Roto in theDominican Republic. With composer Johan VanKreij, he is creating an interactive audio-videodanceinstallation in collaboration with the N!03art video company in Milan.Les Ballets C de la BLes Ballets C de la B were founded in 1984by Alain Platel. Over time, the company hasadopted a working-platform structure bringingtogether several choreographers. AlongsideAlain Platel are Christine de Smedt and KoenAugustijnen; Hans van den Broeck and Sidi LarbiCherkaoui have also been on-board. Les BalletsC de la B attach great importance to involvingyoung talented artists, from various backgroundsand disciplines, in their dynamic creative process.The company is currently hosting two guestchoreographers, Lisi Estaras and Ted Stoffer. Itsunique blend of diverse, mutually-nourishingartistic visions makes it impossible to define itexactly. However, a “house style” is discernible:it is popular, anarchic, eclectic and engaged.Aphasiadisiac / premiering atthe BiennaleThe title is a compound of aphasia (the inabilityto express or understand thought in spoken orwritten words) and aphrodisiac (arousing sexualexcitement).This piece, the final episode in a trilogy inspiredby the conditions and transmutable nature ofcommunication, is about the politics of love.Aphasiadisiac speaks of the private languageswe learn and use with people we trust. (…) Forthe aphasiadisiac, there are no common wordsable to communicate what s/he desperatelywants to express(…)The first episode, I Enigma, dealt with the earlystages of our personal communication: (…) withthe processes used in the search for a languagethat is not borrowed from society, from theparents who educated us, or from those aroundus. The second episode, Dear Elizabeth…,probed control mechanisms and the barriersbetween public property and private property,and asked what was communicated and withwhat objective.This last episode explores communication: oncewe have discovered how to communicate andhave deciphered the essence of communication,where does it lead us? What price must we payfor sharing the other’s language? Is it actuallypossible to do so?Ted Stoffer’s intention is to present the worldof a love story in its totality by creating a newlanguage, and to show the influences that notonly colour communication but also distort andprevent it. He also seeks to identify a languageyou might call Aphasiadisian.The five performers will create and play musicfor the piece.Extra info:World premierewww.lesballetscedela.be.www.fransbrood.com63