Sylphs are unearthly beings, a figment of the imagination of human beings and psychics caught between worlds (mainly between that of the dead and the living, but also that of fantasy and reality, of what is possible and what is not…). As it became a literary and choreographic craze respectively in the 18th and 19th century, the sylph figure still appears nowadays as a key and a major riddle in our imagination. As they question how material the body and afterlife are, as well as our relationship with the dead and their earthly bodies, the sylphs cast doubt on some great invariant aspects of Western thinking: dualism, linear time, rationalism…

Half way between funeral rite and amphidromy (birth celebration), Sylphides looks set to be a literal reincarnation attempt. Through an approach that makes it possible to experience suspension of the vital functions, we intend to access a new understanding of our bodies and their potential annihilations and rebirths.

CREATION TEAM

Conception Cecilia Bengolea, François Chaignaud

Performers Cecilia Bengolea, François Chaignaud, Élisa Yvelin, Chiara Gallerani/Valeria Lanzara

Lighting design Erik Houllier

Lighting technicianGildas Roudaut

Styling Sothean Nhieim

Dramaturgy collaboration Berno Odo Polzer

Administration/production Matthieu Banvillet

Tour planning Sarah de Ganck/ART HAPPENS

COPRODUCTION

Le Quartz – Scène nationale de Brest, Le Merlan – Scène nationale de Marseille, Centre chorégraphique national de Franche-Comté — Belfort, Centre chorégraphique national Montpellier Languedoc Roussillon, La Ménagerie de verre – Paris (Studiolab), Théâtre de l’Usine – Geneva.

SUPPORTS

With the help of Quartz technical crew

SPECIAL THANKS TO

Donatien Veismann (pictures), Maud Le Pladec, Emma Kim Haghdal and Alex Jenkins.