She stands on white stiletto heels in front of a pile of boxes. On Saturday, September 28, the Lithuanian choreographer Agniete Lisickinaite is waiting for us in front of the Toulouse Study and Heritage Library. One by one, she places panels side by side on the ground. We can read there: “No one is illegal” (“no one is illegal”), “Black Lives Matter” (“Black Lives Matter”), “don’t shoot” (“don’t shoot”), “Between 2010 and 2021, at least 6,593 women were killed by a male partner” (“between 2010 and 2021, at least 6,593 women were killed by their partner”). She invites the public to choose one of the signs and follow it through the streets of Toulouse. Quietly, the impromptu demonstration wanders, punctuated by the looks and comments of onlookers.
As a leader as serious as she is serious in her silver trousers, Agniete Lisickinaite remembers, with this participatory performance entitled Hands upthe general disastrous situation of the planet. Scheduled for the first time in France, it is on the joint bill of the Toulouse Biennale et al Lithuania season in France, which is being held in 80 cities in France until December 12. She qualifies “artist”. “When I imagined this show about protest in 2021, I realized that I couldn’t stay locked in my rehearsal studio in Vilnius, she confesses. I tested the track myself, every day for two weeks on the streets. »
Mane dance
Hands in the air, therefore, to hold up and without fail the requirements written on the boxes. Some are empty. They remember walking The dance of blank signscreated in 1967 by the American avant-garde figure Anna Halprin (1920-2021), on the streets of San Francisco, in the United States – a show that Agniete Lisickinaite did not know about. In response to the Vietnam War, Anna Halprin organized a silent protest parade, bringing together approximately thirty performers carrying white signs. “Struggles remain many”declares Agniete Lisickinaite, very emotional at the film Hands upin this country with “a long history of protests” what is france “I am 34 years old this year and Lithuania’s independence from the USSR also dates back thirty-four years”she summarizes.
On the same program, in a register at the antipodes, solo Paros 2.0, by Dovydas Strimaitis, magnetizes. In a black latex-style jumpsuit, this dancer and choreographer relies on the visual and kinetic impact of his long red hair. And the result is amazing. In a minimalistic sequence of steps, feet apart and head tilted, he activates a powerful, frenetic neck rotation that causes his hair to spin non-stop. Right, left, down, up, the incredibly slick movement seems to slide on rubber necks, to the point where you sometimes feel like your skull is going to come off your body. Set to electro rhythms, this mane dance mounted on ball bearings performs the miracle of keeping you in suspense for thirty minutes.
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