Gisèle Vienne: CROWD

A piece that makes a ‘philosophical movie’ with human body.

With the increasingly intensive and strong music, but inversely chilly stage light, 15 young dancers dressed in different casual clothes gather on the muddy stage. Some of them are alone and some of them are in a group. They are moving extremely slowly, stretching their bodies to the limit, engaging in interactions with each other, in slow motion, gradually composing the scene of a wild party.

Psychedelic electronic music, a stage filled with soil, and seemingly unsystematic movements. Such unconventional choreography is a product of combining ‘physicality philosophy’ and cinematic choreography. While inspired by the ‘Love Parade’ (Berlin 1989), Gisèle Vienne, a French-Austrian director, choreographer and visual artist, created this incredible piece.

With the research background of sociology, anthropology and philosophy, Gisèle always looks into the relation between arts and philosophy. In CROWD, Gisèle takes us through the exploration of a conflict that breaks out amongst young people. It delves into the role of interactions in the social activities of a group, the relationship between individual and collective emotions and subjective perspectives of time.

The dancers are placed into a collective revelry setting. Each individual forms their own role in this community. As music gradually changes during the next 90 minutes, their interactions become more intimate and fierce. Performers start dancing crazily as they shake and wave their bodies while changing their formations in seemingly random movements. Even so, any small narratives and details happening amongst them can still be sharply captured by some occasional freezes: a shopping-bag woman, a lonely man who smokes a lot, kisses, ambiguous relationships, a sudden explosion of conflict…The overlapping movement quality creates different focuses which shift amongst every individual in such a dazzling carnival while composing precise framing on each interaction, allowing the audience to gaze on every detail that drives this collision.