Brave Compagnie

THERAPEUTIC AND RESILIENT DANCEFLOOR

“It is by imbuing eve­ry­day objects with new mea­nings that we can create new hea­ling rituals.” Anna Hal­prin, *Intro­duc­tion to Move­ment Ritual I*, Wes­leyan Uni­ver­si­ty Press, 1995, p. 37

LE BAL DES ARDENTES is a the­ra­peu­tic and resi­lient dan­ce­floor born out of pre­vious col­la­bo­ra­tions bet­ween artist Johan­na Rocard and DJ Aman­dine Braud. After three years of col­lec­ting uplif­ting music tracks for the BRAVES project—a dan­ce­floor for times of crisis—they now present a hybrid for­mat, where dances com­bine with soma­tic prac­tices, ver­na­cu­lar dances and the empo­we­ring power of music, offe­ring a space and time for col­lec­tive and alter­na­tive hea­ling.

In the tra­di­tion of cathar­tic dan­cers, fel­low per­for­mers and ama­teurs lead the way, gui­ding par­ti­ci­pants through a time­less, cele­bra­to­ry ritual. A selec­tion of cos­tumes and armour is pro­vi­ded, and behind the hor­ned caps, bea­ded masks, frin­ged coats, false bot­toms and hoods, the figures of cha­ri­va­ris, popu­lar trances, uphea­vals and revolts emerge.

It is the return of the crea­tures of the mar­gins who once again set the dance floors ablaze as a col­lec­tive act of hea­ling.

WRITTEN BY : JOHANNA ROCARD AND AMANDINE BRAUD

CHOREOGRAPHY AND STAGING : JOHANNA ROCARD

DJ SET : AMANDINE BRAUD

IMAGES : ESTELLE CHAIGNE

IN THE MAKING

 

‘It is said that it all began with a woman from the neigh­bou­rhood, Frau Trof­fea, who one mor­ning got up and threw her child over a bridge. She began to dance and could not stop, fol­lo­wed by other women. It is said that from then on, the dance took hold of young and old alike. They dan­ced day and night, until they col­lap­sed from exhaus­tion. Stands were erec­ted in the horse mar­ket square and in the grain mar­ket square, and people were hired to dance with them to the sound of drums and fifes.”

David Spe­ck­lin, engi­neer-archi­tect, Stras­bourg, 1518

 

LA GRANDE FOLIE / THE GRAT MADNESS is a 15-minute per­for­mance piece, a phy­si­cal encoun­ter bet­ween a dan­cer, Nina Ber­claz, and a cos­tume, a spin­ning cape.

Accom­pa­nied by the memo­ry of Frau Trof­fea, the great mad­ness of Stras­bourg and figures of women said to be mad, the per­for­mance is a tri­bute to the pos­ses­sed, the res­t­less, those who dis­turb, those who take action and over­turn the esta­bli­shed order. Amid­st the swirls of fabric, the sha­dows appear of the French cancan’s girls of joy, of whir­ling der­vishes, of Eguns dan­cers, and of all those on the mar­gins who sur­round them­selves with a cir­cu­lar adorn­ment to bet­ter connect with others, dead or alive. Dances of

the earth, mad­ness and the sacred are once again inter­t­wi­ned. And when the veil is lif­ted, the spi­der woman returns, caught bet­ween ven­geance and col­lec­tive cathar­sis.

Aman­dine Braud’s sound­scape, blen­ding ritual chan­ting with tech­no beats, sets the rhythm for this floor dance, brin­ging to life this ode to mad­ness and the power of the circle.

WRITTEN BY : JOHANNA ROCARD

CHOREOGRAPHY AND STAGING : JOHANNA ROCARD

CHOREOGRAPHIC CONSULTANT : NINA BERCLAZ

PERFORMER : NINA BERCLAZ

SOUND : AMANDINE BRAUD

PHOTOGRAPHY : VALENTIN LE CRON / CATHERINA FRANCI/

LAURE LEDOUX

PLANNED FOR 2025 as a one-hour cho­reo­gra­phed piece.

JOHANNA ROCARD – ARTIST, AUTHOR AND CHOREOGRAPHER

After trai­ning in dance and obtai­ning a degree in social sciences, Johan­na Rocard com­ple­ted her stu­dies with a Master’s degree in visual arts at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Rennes II. Along­side her aca­de­mic stu­dies, she wor­ked in various sec­tors, some more lucra­tive than others, ran­ging from car­pet sales­wo­man to moto­cross pre­sen­ter and cook.

A mem­ber and co-foun­der of La Col­lec­tive, she is par­ti­cu­lar­ly inter­es­ted in rituals and the concept of group spi­rit. These diverse expe­riences and inter­dis­ci­pli­na­ry know­ledge now enable the artist, author and cho­reo­gra­pher to deve­lop a mul­ti­fa­ce­ted prac­tice struc­tu­red around non-hie­rar­chi­cal action research into the concept of the col­lec­tive, and more spe­ci­fi­cal­ly into the ges­tures and rituals of war­ding off mis­for­tune that bind human groups toge­ther in times of cri­sis.

In addi­tion to her per­so­nal prac­tice, Johan­na Rocard cur­rent­ly works with : the 3615 Dako­ta col­lec­tive, the Trois points de Sus­pen­sions com­pa­ny (art in public spaces), the Flo­rianne Fachi­ni com­pa­ny (culi­na­ry theatre), the Uni­code com­pa­ny (caba­ret), and the Joli Col­lec­tif / Enora Boelle (children’s theatre)

https://www.instagram.com/johanna_rocard/

ESTELLE CHAIGNE – ASSOCIATE ARTIST, ARTIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER

Estelle Chaigne is a pho­to­gra­pher and artist, affi­lia­ted with Ate­liers du Vent.

She explores a range of pho­to­gra­phic tech­niques, using eve­ry­thing from 19th-cen­tu­ry view came­ras and magne­sium flashes to tem­po­ra­ry tat­toos and digi­tal video.

Her prac­tice takes the form of ins­tal­la­tions, videos and per­for­mances that engage with the act of pho­to­gra­phy and the pho­to­gra­phic medium, and its capa­ci­ty to reveal the invi­sible and the latent. Her work on signs, ver­na­cu­lar prac­tices and inha­bi­ted bodies leads her to explore the connec­tion bet­ween roman­ti­cism and nature, wit­ch­craft and land­scape, rituals and pea­sant prac­tices.

https://linktr.ee/estellechaigne 

AMANDINE BRAUD – ASSOCIATE ARTIST & DJ

Aman­dine Braud is a DJ. She grew up in a jazz club in Paris, lan­ded a job at the Ope­ra, under­took a crash course in impro­vi­sed music with the free punk band Elec­trique Pus­sies, spent ten years lis­te­ning to the vibra­tions of expe­ri­men­tal and noise music stages before hit­ting the night­clubs of Doua­la in Came­roon. Enough to keep her dan­cing day and night.

She nur­tures her love of poly­pho­nic nar­ra­tives and com­mu­ni­ty prac­tices as a cultu­ral media­tor at La Criée, a contem­po­ra­ry art centre in Rennes. From time to time, she creates props for stage desi­gns aimed at young audiences.