In Movement on Movement, I reproduce as precisely as possible sequences from the Improvisation Technologies by William Forsythe. They are short lectures where Forsythe presents different tools to generate and analyze movements. He does short improvisation and many gestures that comment on other movements by pointing, underlining, and foregrounding specific elements. These movements are not Forsythe’s choreography, they are what happens when he explains his approach to movement. By treating them as a dance material, I hope to give them another status: what was an explanation of the material becomes the material itself. I thus try to address the question: how can movement be about movement?

While performing these gestures, I develop a reflection on the ways movements are defined and the experiences of the body created by these modes of definition. One can define a movement geometrically, mechanically or by giving oneself a practical goal, the movement can be defined as a problem the performer has to solve or as model he must imitate, this definition can cover the whole body or only a specific body part, etc. All these differences will have a profound impact on the experiences of both the performer and the spectator. By analyzing them, I try to propose different ways of focusing one’s attention on a given movement. The spoken and the gestural text interact. Sometimes they seem to come together, at other times, they are clearly in contradiction and most often, they affect each other to create a third meaning.

Concept and performance: Noé Soulier

Production: WP Zimmer
Executive production: ND Productions (Paris)
Coproduction: Festival d’Automne à Paris (FR); Kaaitheater Brussels (BE); Bruges Concertgebouw (BE); Ménagerie de Verre, Paris (FR)
With the support of Centre National de la Danse, Pantin (FR)
Special thanks to the Forsythe Company

2013
October 15-19: Festival d’automne, Ménagerie de verre – Paris (FR)
October 27: FIAC, Grand Palais – Paris (FR)

2014
February 5-6: Kaaïstudio – Brussels (BE)
February 22-23: Palais de Tokyo – Paris (FR)
March 1: Concertgebouw – Bruges (BE)
April 3-5: Tanz Quartier – Vienna (AT)
June 29: Festival Extension Sauvage – Bazouge-La-Pérouse (FR)
August 3: Festival Tanzwerkstatt Europa, Kunstbau Lenbachhaus – Munich (DE)
September 5-6: Festival La Bâtie, Théâtre de l’usine – Geneva (CH)
September 19-20: Biennale de la danse, Opéra de Lyon – Lyon (FR)
October 7-8: Festival Actoral, Théâtre des Bernardines – Marseille (FR)
October 28-29: Usine C – Montreal (CA)
November 9: Festival Roma Europa, Opificio – Roma (IT)

2015
January 26: CDC – Toulouse (FR)
February 7: FRAC – Reims (FR)
February 8 : La Ferme du Buisson – Noisiel (FR)
February 9-10: Lublin (PO)
November 12: University of Surrey – Guilford (GB)

2016
February 12-13: Théâtre Sévelin – Lausanne (CH)
October 5-6: Festival Seuls en scène, Princeton University – Princeton (US)

2017
January 14: Cndc – Angers (FR)
October 24: Festival Cervantino – Guanajuato (MX)
October 31: INBA – Mexico (MX)

2018
January 13: Le Tri Postal, Lille 3000 – Lille (FR)
February 24: Los Angeles Dance Project – Los Angeles (US)
March 4: Teatros del Canal – Madrid (ES)
November 5: Musée de l’Orangerie – Paris (FR)

2019
February 27: Festival CDCN La place de la danse, Alliance Française – Quito (EC)
October 25: Dance Center Columbia College – Chicago (US)
October 29: University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee (US)
November 21: Taipei Performing Arts Center – Taipei (TW)

2022
September 12-13: Lafayette anticipations, Echelle Humaine, Festival d’Automne – Paris (FR)

2023
June 30: ZKM, Center for art and media – Karlsruhe (DEU)