An event that takes place throughout the festival, le Laboratoire de la pensée (’The Thought Lab’) invites the adventurous to broaden their knowledge of performing arts. An ally to your experience of the shows, the Lab offers debates and a creative approach to writing which favours reactivity and open-mindedness over doubt. Led by guests, specialised in the field of performing arts, and set in two parts – les Balises and l’Atelier d’écriture – the Lab aims to provide a two-way link between the festival’s artistic programme and festivalgoers by organising entertaining and spontaneous meetings.
Guests : Myrto Katsiki (fr/gr) and Laurent Pichaud (fr)
The guests act in several places: leading Les Balises, assisting with L’atelier d’écriture and meeting up with artists-in-residence in Watch & Talk. The point of their presence lies in the shared theoretical input with regards to the artistic proposals presented at the festival. In relation to the subjects of their own research and areas of expertise, the guests enhance the perception of various works and initiate and fuel discussions revolving around the shows. Myrto Katsiki and Laurent Pichaud are this year’s two guests. Both approach dance as a practice and a focus of research.
Myrto Katsiki trained in contemporary dance at the National School of Dance in Athens. She then completed a Master of Research within the Dance Department of the University Paris 8, where she is currently working on a dissertation on the concept of neutrality in dance. In her research she favours an approach based on the analysis of choreographic works, questioning both the audience’s perceptual activity, the work’s creative process and the performer’s work.
Laurent Pichaud is a choreographer, performer and research artist. He is currently adjunct professor at the Dance Department of the University Paris 8. His approach focuses on the integration of choreography into non-specifically artistic fields, for instance De terrain and L’usage du monde – le dehors, two projects presented at far° in 2016. His recent translation of texts by American choreographer Deborah Hay has enabled him to notice how writing can be used as a documentation and transmission tool for choreography.
