About
Jérôme Meyer and Isabelle Chaffaud are independent choreographic artists based in the Netherlands and supported by Korzo production in The Haag, the Culture Council of The Haag, the National Funds for Arts, the Dutch Embassy in divers country.
‘Owing also to an intense and pure execution, Corps à Corps holds one’s attention for the full sixty minutes….’ Parool, Francine van der Wiel 2006
Their works express the fascination of the body in the space, creating sensuous information, intuitive connection, direct experiences and the creation of instant knowledge. The images created are framed by a strong dramaturgy and their dance is always creative, surprising and communicative.
Corps à Corps and Kamerdans have been performed together over 100 times.Their works have been shown in many Dutch theatres as well as in Germany, France, South Africa in the Joomba Festival in Durban, Italy, U.S. and Switzerland.
Swiss-born Jérôme Meyer and the French born Isabelle Chaffaud began to focus on choreography in 2002, after dancing with the world renowned company like The Nederlands Dans Theater I, Batsheva Dance Company and Grand Theatre de Genève.
In 2002, they staged the expressive piece “The Ship” for the spring festival of Korzo and was quickly followed by “Innervoice”.
“Lumières du désert” was commissioned by the direction of the Ballet du Grand Theatre de Genève for their Egyptian Tour in Cairo and Alexandria with the music of Om Kalsoum.
“Compass for Fools” was premiered in November 2004, during the CaDance Festival of Modern Dance in The Hague, The Netherlands. ‘These significant and beautifully danced images show man who doesn’t manage to give direction to his complex life.’ (Dutch daily newspaper Trouw, November 2004)
“Seed” was created in 2006 for Life Arts Festival in Philadelphia followed by “Kamerdans”, a dance work site specific performed in 43 apartments in the Haag during CaDance 2006 that is currently restaged at Life Arts Festival in the USA.
For twools at Scapino Ballet they created in June 2007 the successful “Fierce Youth”, a pieces for 15 dancers.
“Diable au Corps”, a piece for five dancer, premiered this last January at Korzo theatre in The Haag in the Netherlands and will be on tour in spring 2009.
Compass For Fools
Compass for Fools was premiered in November 2004, during the
CaDance festival in The Hague, The Netherlands. ‘These
significant and beautifully danced images show man who doesn’t
manage to give direction to his complex life.’ (Dutch daily
newspaper Trouw, November 2004) and ‘ … an exuberant
quartet for highly quality dancers as Isabelle Chaffaud and Marthe
Krummenacher …’
(local newspaper Haagsche Courant, november 2004)
La poésie du mouvement revient
Temps-Dance maison de la culture Bourges
Violence et enlacements, quête de l'autre, moment presque contemplatif
surprenant de beauté dans la rigueur d'un halo de lumière
blanche. La choreographie se fait inventive, la musique minimaliste,
s'adjoint les bruissements d'un rideau de papier d'alu aux moindres frôlement
des danseurs qui y laissent d'ailleurs l'empreinte de leur visage comme
un masque mortuaire, un symbole de passage et de questionnement intérieur
.le berry reepublicain Marie-José Ballista
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Mindscan11.1.06
It is interesting to see the connection or disconnection of what I call sensation
and thoughts. As a dancer we are trained to connect ourselves with sensation
or to go also against it, especially within the learning process of a technique.
To learn any choreography, the sensation of the movement, the kinetic feeling
is one of the prominent tools to remember the steps. The memory of the body
in this sense is phenomenal: it can remember steps years after even if the
brain has no idea about it anymore. So we are very aware of body sensations.
Thoughts and ideas are producing certainly also physical sensation. I would
bet that a mathematician has also physical responds, for instance when he
is pleased with some calculation or with some demonstration of his knowledge.
Thoughts and images can be as attractive as well as repulsive. We all know
that. They have power and actually the border between sensation, physicality
and thoughts when seen as a whole, could easily disappear. This is also why
the feeling of love is universally recognised as one of the most beautiful
feelings: it connects the mind and the body. We are bound with the concept
of connection and disconnection, because it is part of our everyday life
as dancer.
Every job has
its own sensations, as a dancer I would say there are fewer words between
your mind and your body. Does it makes it more genuine? |
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Press about Corps à Corps AD/Haagsche
Courant, Roos van Put
‘Beautiful moments, when the two appear to merge, seem to be one…’
Parool, Francine van der Wiel
‘Owing also to an intense and pure execution, Corps à Corps
holds one’s attention for the full sixty minutes….’
Leidsch Dagblad, Maarten Baanders
‘DANCING HAND IN CORPS À CORPS FASCINATES’
‘Their relationship and the path traveled to each other
is the subject that is developed excitingly and with great subtlety
in Corps à Corps’.
‘The final image is wonderful, Chaffaud shows with no more
than a moving hand that the fascination between these too never
dies’. |
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Press for Seed 12.09.06 Eerie,
abandoned-warehouse sounds help create a bleak scenario. At one
point, three dancers cluster with their limbs moving like Medusa's
hair, while one dancer executes a perfect yogic headstand in front
of them, reciting portents of destruction. At times the choreography
looks crowded, but Meyer and Chaffaud otherwise paint stage pictures
with clarity and dramatic tension.
- Lewis Whittington |
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