Vacuum generates impossible images and fantastic paintings, an interplay of bodies appearing and disappearing between black holes and dazzling lights. This duo is the third part in a series of performances called Dispositifs (‘stage devices’), in convergence with visual arts. After Black Out (2011) and NEONS Never Ever, Oh! Noisy Shadows (2014), Vacuum explores a new aspect of our sensory perception through an optical illusion created with two neon tubes. In Black Out, the movements of the dancers drew shapes in some black substance on stage while the audience watched from above. NEONS then staged a couple dancing in a world of lights and shadows. Now, with this third piece, Saire explores further the visual perception of movement. The result is lyrical and inspiring, as it moves forward through the history of art, from Renaissance paintings to photographic development. This 25-minute long performance features a stage device that is easily transportable. Furthermore, it includes the same cast as NEONS, meaning both can be programmed together.
Vacuum is a coproduction with Paris’ Théâtre National de Chaillot and La Bâtie-Festival de Genève.
Black Out (2011)
Together with the Vacuum performance a video screening of Black Out (2011) performance by Philippe Saire will be shown. Somewhere between dance, performance and visual arts, this dark piece presents a very unusual set that is putting the spectators above the dancers. A strong and intimate experience. We watch, from above, as thousands of black granulated fragments transform the dancers’ world into a moving, pictorial composition, that jars as it shifts in response to the light, sound, and movement. We watch a work in progress, displaying dark images that touch the intimate sphere and the shadowy part in each of us.
Support & partners Ville de Lausanne, Canton de Vaud, Pro Helvetia — Swiss Arts Council, Loterie Romande, Fondation de Famille Sandoz, Corodis, Le Romandie Rock Club, la Ménagerie de Verre dans le cadre du Studiolab. Cie Philippe Saire is in permanent residency at Théâtre Sévelin 36, Lausanne.
TEAM
Concept and choreography — Philippe Saire
Choreography in collaboration with dancers — Philippe Chosson and Pep Garrigues
Dancers on tour — Gyula Cserepes, Lazare Huet
Stage device realization — Léo Piccirelli
Sound design — Stéphane Vecchione
Technical director — Vincent Scalbert
Construction coordinator — Antoine Friderici
Construction — Cédric Berthoud
Stage management — Bastien Aubert
Video recording & teaser — Pierre-Yves Borgeaud
Photography & graphic design — Philippe Weissbrodt
Administration — Valérie Niederoest
Promotion & tour management — Gábor Varga / BravoBravo
Communication & production — Martin Genton
Accounting — Régina Zwahlen
Administrative assistant — Charlotte Fahrni
Production assistant — Constance von Braun
Additionally
Musical work: What Power Art Thou, drawn from Henry Purcell’s King Arthur, performed by Fink and the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Ninja Tune, 2013.