A star is said to begin dying when it has exhausted its hydrogen reserves and leaves its state of equilibrium. This marks the beginning of a long phase of degeneration which, depending on the size of the star, will lead to the collapse of its core or even a violent explosion. For this new work, Maud Blandel combines the astrophysical phenomenon of pulsars with the tragic memory of the explosion of her father’s heart.
Featuring six dancers and demonstrating principles such as rotation, gravity and periodicity, L’Oeil Nu transforms the stage space into a field of observation: faced with a deteriorating body (stellar, physical or collective), what do we really perceive? Rather than reconstructing an autobiographical event, the choreographer plays with changes of scale, steers clear of tragedy, and puts into images the workings of memory: its persistence, its loops and pits, and other grey areas. It is indeed when memory inevitably fails that the power of the imagination comes into play– creating image(s) in order to give shape to those we lack, to distort those we have, and to physically celebrate that which is beyond our understanding.