Maud Blandel — I L K A

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Trained in contemporary dance (Toulouse), in directing (Manufacture, Lausanne) and visual arts (HEAD, Geneva), Maud Blandel has been developing her own choreographic pieces since 2015. Singular and physical, each of her works relies on a musical conceptual base in order to put into body and form phenomena altered by the passage of time. She has worked on the notion of sacrificed body and the mise en spectacle of the female body (TOUCH DOWN, 2015), on the folklorization of popular dance practices (Lignes de conduite, 2018), and on the act of killing time via a 17th century musical entertainment called Divertimento (Diverti Menti, 2020).
In parallel to her activities she has worked as an assistant with Cindy Van Acker, Karim Bel Kacem, Heiner Goebbels and Romeo Castellucci.

Since 2016, Maud Blandel has been supported by Parallèle in production and dissemination. She has been artist-in-residence at the Arsenic - center d'art scénique contemporain de Lausanne since September 2018, associate artist at the Cndc, Centre national de danse contemporaine, Angers and at Bonlieu Scène nationale Annecy.

L'œil nu

Maud Blandel — I L K A

Direction and choreography 
Maud Blandel 
 
Dancers 
Bilal El Had (in alternation), Karine Dahouindji, Maya Masse, Tilouna Morel, Ana Teresa Pereira, Romane Peytavin, Simon Ramseier (in alternation) 
 
Sound 
Flavio Virzì, Denis Rollet, Maud Blandel 
 
Lighting 
Daniel Demont et Florian Bach 
 
Mixing and sound diffusion 
Denis Rollet 
 
Outside view 
Anna-Marija Adomaityte 
 
Costumes 
Marie Bajenova 

 

Production
I L K A 
 
International support and diffusion
Parallèle, Pratiques artistiques émergentes internationales
Production, Festival, Coopération
Marseille 
 
Coproductions
ADC - le Pavillon de la Danse | Arsenic - centre d’art scénique contemporain | Canton de Vaud | Le Quai - CDN Angers Pays de la Loire | centre chorégraphique national de Caen en Normandie, dans le cadre de l’Accueil-studio/Ministère de la Culture 
(en cours) 
 
The company I L KA benefits from a contract of confidence with the city of Lausanne — 2024-2027. 
 

Creation 2023

 

 

23 Nov - 30 Nov 2024
Théâtre Public de Montreuil — CDN, dans le cadre du Festival d'Automne et avec le Centre culturel suisse on tour
12 Dec - 13 Dec 2024
Usine à Gaz, Nyon
23 Apr - 24 Apr 2025
Centre chorégraphique national de Caen en Normandie
14 Jun 2025
Cndc-Angers
08 Oct - 09 Oct 2024
dans le cadre du FAB - Festival International des Arts de Bordeaux Métropole, du 28 septembre au 13 octobre 2024 À La Manufacture CDCN • Bordeaux
01 Oct - 05 Oct 2024
Bonlieu Scène nationale Annecy
28 Feb - 29 Feb 2024
Swiss Dance Days, Theater der Künste, Zürich
03 Feb - 04 Feb 2024
Festival Parallèle 14, Ballet National de Marseille
30 Jan 2024
Cndc, Centre national de danse contemporaine, Angers
16 Nov - 18 Nov 2023
CN D, Centre national de la danse, Pantin
01 Sep - 04 Sep 2023
Festival La Bâtie à l’ADC Pavillon de la danse, Genève
10 Jul - 16 Jul 2023
Programmation IN du Festival d'Avignon, La Chartreuse, avec la Sélection suisse en Avignon
26 Apr - 30 Apr 2023
Arsenic - Centre d'art scénique contemporain, Lausanne
They say a star starts dying when, with its hydrogen reserves depleted, it can no longer exist in a state of equilibrium. Thus begins a long phase of degeneration which will lead, based on the size of the star, to the collapse of its heart, or even to a violent explosion. For this creation, French-Swiss choreographer Maud Blandel associates the astrophysical phenomenon of pulsars* to the tragic memory of the sound of her father’s heart exploding. Adapting the principles of rotation, gravity, and periodicity, L’œil nu, with its six dancers, turns the cloister of the cemetery of the Chartreuse de Villeneuve lez Avignon into the perfect observation field. When faced with a body (be it astral, physical, or collective) in a state of degeneration, what do we truly perceive? More than the mere reconstitution of an autobiographical event, Maud Blandel plays here with changes of scale, keeps the tragic at bay, and translates into images the workings of memory: its persistence, its loops as much as its holes, its grey areas and other inventions. 

*Formed after the explosion of the heart of a massive star, a pulsar is a celestial body spinning at very high speed.

 

Maud Blandel — I L K A

Concept et choreography
Maud Blandel

Choreography and interpretation
Maya Masse, Romane Peytavin

Music
Steve Reich, Double Sextet - pour deux ensembles
Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain : Antoine Françoise (dir. artistique/piano), Susanne Peters (flûte), Jean-François Lehmann (clarinette), Maximillian Haft (violon), Esther Monnat (violoncelle), Julien Mégroz (vibraphone) 
Castel Camerata : Yuji Noguchi (dir. artistique), Maruta Staravoitava (flûte), Megumi Tabuchi (clarinette), Chihiro Ono (violon), Aurélien Ferrette (violoncelle), Gilles Grimaître (piano), Jens Ruland (vibraphone) 
 
Music
Steve Reich, Double Sextet pour 2 sextuors 
 
Lights
Luc Gendroz
 
Music analysis and dramaturgical accompaniment
Alain Franco 

 

Production
I L K A  | Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain (NEC), Castel Camerata
 
Coproduction
Arsenic - Centre d’art scénique contemporain, Association Danse Neuchâtel, Théâtre du Concert
 
International touring
Parallèle — Pôle de production international pour les pratiques artistiques émergentes
 
The company I L KA benefits from a contract of confidence with the city of Lausanne — 2021-2024. 
 
 
Création 2021
 
 
There is no date in the future for this show.
09 Jul - 10 Jul 2021
Festival de la Cité, Lausanne (CH)
25 Jun - 26 Jun 2021
ADN - Danse Neuchâtel (CH)
11 Jun - 13 Jun 2021
Arsenic - Centre d’art scénique contemporain, Lausanne (CH)

Diverti Menti

Maya Masse, Maud Blandel — I L K A

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Concept and choreography
Maud Blandel

Choreography and performance
Maya Masse
 
Music
W.A. Mozart, A. Françoise, S. Aeschimann
 
With

Maya Masse (danseuse), Simon Aeschimann (guitare), Serge Bonvalot (tuba), Antoine Françoise (piano), et en alternance avec Samuel Fried (piano) et Flavio Virzi (guitare)


In collaboration with
l'Ensemble Contrechamps de Genève
 
Light design
Daniel Demont
 
Light technician
Edouard Hügli
 
Musical analysis
Alain Franco

Regard Extérieur
Romane Peytavin
 
Production and touring
Alice Fabbri for Parallèle
 
 
Production
I L K A
 
Production and touring
Parallèle - Pôle de production international pour les pratiques artistiques émergentes
 
Coproductions
Arsenic - centre d'art scénique contemporain, Lausanne | ADC - Association pour la Danse Contemporaine, Genève | Contrechamps, Ensemble de musique contemporaine de Genève   
 
Residencies
La place de la danse — Centre chorégraphique national Toulouse - Occitanie | Arsenic - centre d'art scénique contemporain, Lausanne | Maison des arts du Grütli - Studio de danse de l'ADC  | Centro Cultural do Car taxo, organisé dans le cadre de Materiais Diversos dans le cadre de MTT | Kanuti Gildi SAAL | Centre National de la Danse, dans le cadre de la formation édition spéciale #3
 
Supports
Ville de Lausanne | Pro Helvetia - Fondation Suisse pour la culture | Loterie Romande | Fondation Nestlé pour l'art
 
Touring support
Corodis
 
With the support of Fonds culturel de la Société Suisse des Auteurs (SSA)
The piece was developed within the framework of the European project « More Than This ».
 
The company I L KA benefits from a contract of confidence with the city of Lausanne — 2021-2024.

Création 2020

 

 

 
Dance
20 Mar 2025
Cndc-Angers, festival Conversation
14 May 2024
Théâtre Benno Besson, Yverdon-Les-Bains
26 Apr - 28 Apr 2024
ADC Pavillon de la Danse, Genève
20 Dec 2023
Dampfzentrale, Bern
09 Sep 2022
Usine à Gaz, Nyon
26 Jul - 28 Jul 2022
ImPulsTanz, Vienne
24 Nov - 27 Nov 2021
Théâtre de la Bastille, Paris
12 Oct - 13 Oct 2021
Carreau du Temple, Paris
06 Oct - 10 Oct 2021
ADC - Association pour la Danse Contemporaine, Genève
29 Jan 2020
19H, 21H
Théâtre des Bernardines, Marseille
22 Jan - 26 Jan 2020
Arsenic – Centre d'art scénique contemporain, Lausanne
Maud Blandel invites dancer Maya Masse and three soloists of Contrechamps from Geneva to develop an approach to composition based on the series Divertimenti by Mozart.
A new orchestration of Divertimento K.136 for a first-time quartet originates from this research: a guitar, a tuba, a piano and a dancing body.
What is revealed by such a transposition of entertainment? What is unveiled by a new organisation of the entertaining function?
Emphasizing what such a musical genre encapsulates in terms of expressiveness, Diverti Menti works towards the creation of a polyphony: a musical body, freed from narrative requirements, whose four voices devote themselves to a joint activity: defying speeds in order to thwart time.

Lignes de conduite (Lines of conduct)

Maud Blandel — I L K A

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Concept et choreography
Maud Blandel 
 
Collaboration to the choreographic writing
Maya Masse

Original music by
Charlemagne Palestine
 
Musical arrangements
Clive Jenkins

Scenography
Karim Bel Kacem
 
Light design
Jean-Philippe Roy
 
Light technician
Edouard Hügli
 
Technical direction
Silouane Kohler 
 
With
Gabriela Gómez Abaitua, Maya Masse, Romane Peytavin, Caroline Savi Marsalo
 
 
Production
I L K A
 
Administrative support
Alexandra Nivon
 
Production and international touring
Parallèle — Pôle de production international pour les pratiques artistiques émergentes

Coproductions
Arsenic - centre d'art scénique contemporain - Lausanne | ICI — centre chorégraphique national Montpellier - Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée / Direction Christian Rizzo | PACT Zollverein - Essen | La Passerelle - Scène nationale de Gap, Alpes du sud 
 
Supports
Ville de Lausanne | Pro Helvetia | Loterie Romande | Service culturel Migros Vaud 
 
Residencies
ICI — centre chorégraphique national Montpellier - Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée / Direction Christian Rizzo |  La Villette, Paris | Ballet du nord - CCN de Roubaix - Hauts-de-France | PACT Zollverein - Essen | La Passerelle - Scène nationale de Gap, Alpes du sud 
 
Touring support
Pour-cent culturel Migros | Corodis | Pro Helvetia

Création 2018

 

Dance
There is no date in the future for this show.
13 Aug - 14 Aug 2021
SAAL Biennaal, Tallin (EE)
04 May 2021
Théâtre Paul Eluard — Bezons (FR) - Annulé
27 Jun 2020
Extension Sauvage, Combourg (FR)
13 Feb 2020
La Passerelle - Scène nationale — Saint-Brieuc
18 Sep - 19 Sep 2019
Théâtre de la Ville — Les Abbesses
13 Apr 2019
Théâtre de Vanves - 21e Artdanthé — Vanves
31 Jan 2019 — 21H
KLAP Maison pour la danse — Marseille
31 Oct - 04 Nov 2018
ADC - Genève
17 Apr - 22 Apr 2018
Arsenic

Since ever, every culture knew to invent its own trance rituals, in order to free the captive souls of a community. No matter the fictional system of the ritual, in any case it is a matter of crossing: a state of rapture, or the possibility of getting out of oneself, during a limited time.

 

For her second play, Maud Blandel chooses to investigate one of these rituals: tarantism. Popular healing rite in the South of Italy, mixing christianity, magic practices, and musical catharsis, it not only attests to the warding off forms established by a society,  but it gives as well an account of a whole section of the evolution of cultural balances of power. At first from telluric origin, and then religious one, tarantism is today exploited by a ferocious tourist-festive industry.

 

Formal play for four female dancers, « Lignes de conduite » chooses to recount the evolution of the phenomenon of possession, with the purpose of questioning poetically what may have produced the spectacularization (turning-into-a-show) of such practices.

TOUCH DOWN (time out)

Maud Blandel — I L K A

 

Length
6h continuous
 
Concept et choreography
Maud Blandel 
 
With
Colline Libon, Maya Masse, Alexane Poggi
 
Administration
Alexandra Nivon
 
Production and international touring
Parallèle - Pôle de production international pour les pratiques artistiques émergentes
 
 
Création 2018
 
 
dance - performance
There is no date in the future for this show.
03 Feb 2018 — 11H30
Mucem

 

TOUCH DOWN (time out) chooses as investigation ground the sideline of US universities and as topic their popular icons: the cheerleaders. Now unavoidable figures of this ritual, they have a central part in the sport/show ceremony: fill the void of downtime.

Maud Blandel makes the most of the last week-end of the exhibition « Nous sommes foot » (We are soccer) to try out the stage piece TOUCH DOWN by readapting it in a museum version. The Mucem visitors will meet these dancers with permanent smiles who, during 6 hours, lose their breath while filling the void. The piece will be activated or not, depending on the route of the audience. TOUCH DOWN has been shown in its stage version at the Merlan, national stage, on 30 January as part of Parallèle —6. 

En coréalisation avec le Mucem 
Avec le soutien de Pro Helvetia 

 

Maud Blandel animera un atelier de pratique artistique pour enfants au Théâtre de l’Œuvre. 

Plein tarif 9.5 € | Tarif réduit 5€ (billet d’entrée aux expositions)
Réservation et achat sur place auprès du Mucem | www.mucem.org

TOUCH DOWN

Maud Blandel — I L K A

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Concept and choreography
Maud Blandel
 
Sound design
Orane Duclos 
 
Light design
Léa Maris
 
With
Sidonie Duret, Lola Kervroëdan, Colline Libon, Aline Lopes, Maya Masse
 
 
Production
I L K A
 
Production and international touring 
Parallèle — Pôle de production international pour les pratiques artistiques émergentes

Coproduction
Arsenic – centre d’art scénique contemporain | Les Subsistances, Laboratoire international de création artistique
 
Supports
Ville de Lausanne | Loterie Romande | Service culturel Migros Vaud | Fondation Ernst Göhner | Fondation Nestlé pour l’Art | Pro Helvetia - Fondation suisse pour la culture | Corodis | Pour-cent culturel Migros 
 

Création 2015
 


Dance
There is no date in the future for this show.
24 Nov 2017 — 19H
La Rampe, scène conventionnée danse et musique — 38130 Echirolles
19 Jun 2016 — 11H
Théâtre de la Ville - Danse Élargie — Paris
18 Jun 2016 — 11H
Théâtre de la Ville - Danse Élargie — Paris
30 Jan 2016 — 21H
Le Merlan scène nationale de Marseille — Marseille
10 Dec - 16 Dec 2015
ARSENIC Centre d'art scénique contemporain — Lausanne

Once, the Gods of the stadium said:

"Here, young ladies, here is our time-out. Use it right. »

The teenage girls stretched out their hands and accepted the gift.

But were they even aware of the burden they had inherited: the killing of time (through "entertainment") which may also mean the time of their own killing? 

What if the masterpiece by Stravinsky had something to do with a cheerleader? What if a parallel existed between a human offering of the Rite of Spring and the tragic fate of a female supporter?

Confronting high culture and popular culture, "noble" and "ig-noble", Maud Blandel stages five dancers in a ballet with exacerbated physicality, where bodies confront themselves to the power of music and light. In the limelight, opposite the Gods of the stadium and her delirious fans, the cheerleader performs a series of acts. But what ideology is she the icon of? Twisting up to a desecrating point the patterns of her codified performance, Touch Down redraws contemporary folklore, where anxiety emerges in front of the sacrifice of the female body.

=> Watch teaser here !

Diffusion KOMM'N'ACT - plateform for young international creation - suports Maud Blandel in the diffusion of TOUCH DOWN
Production
 I L K A
Coproduction Arsenic – centre d’art scénique contemporain, Lausanne (CH) ; Les Subsistances, Laboratoire international de création artistique, Lyon (FR) - aide à la résidence
Supports Ville de Lausanne ; Loterie Romande ; Service culturel Migros Vaud ; Fondation Ernst Göhner ; Fondation Nestlé pour l’Art ; Pro Helvetia - Fondation suisse pour la culture, Corodis, Pour-cent culturel Migros
Creation December 10th 2015 at Arsenic - centre d'art scènique contemporain, Lausanne