August 04, 2016

This September, renowned French choreographer and dancer Boris Charmatz and his company of twenty-four dancers from across Europe will host a four-day residency and public presentation of Charmatz’s work, Leveé des conflits (Suspension of Conflicts), as the kickoff presentation of FringeArts annual 17-day Fringe Festival. The performances will take place at the Drexel Armory, 33^rd Street and Lancaster Avenue on Friday, September 9 and Saturday, September 10. The NY Times review of the Levee de conflits performance at the Museum of Modern Art said, “…it’s quite a sight: an infinite-seeming chaos built out of finite elements; a throbbing, circulating mass of individuals, mechanical and mathematical and organic. The interest of it ebbs and flows with the energy of the performers. They’re an excellent bunch, capable of wonderfully relaxed precision…”

The residency will also present performances and several workshops that will engage both the diverse Philadelphia dance community and the general public with Charmatz’s acclaimed choreography and creative process. Twenty-four professional dancers from Philadelphia will be learning the work from Charmatz and will showcase what they’ve learned at a public community workshop on the East Terrace of the Art Museum on Saturday, September 10. A discussion series will also take place at venues throughout the city, including our URBN Annex. Charmatz will be participating in a discussion with noted choreographer William Forsythe in a performance and workshops at the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of the eighth annual Anne d’Harnoncourt Symposium. To purchase tickets or to learn more about all of the events, please visit the project’s website here.

Leveé des conflits, a unique and contemporary performance, is a mesmerizing piece of twenty-four dancers based on twenty-five repetitive moments that transmit and accumulate into an encompassing, rhythmic, and hypnotic experience. “This choreography irresistibly reminds me of the subjective definition of the Neutral according to Roland Barthes,” says Charmatz, “the neutral as a desire for the suspension of conflicts.”

Dr. Miriam Giguere, Department Head of Performing Arts, oversaw this project. Charmatz’s residency is co-directed by Manfred Fischbeck, founder/director of Group Motion Multimedia Dance Theater, and co-presented with FringeArts. Lois Welk, former executive director of Dance USA/Philadelphia, serves as the project’s manager for community engagement. Independent curator and educator Simon Dove serves as project evaluator, employing his expertise in curating complex professional and community dance events. Dove’s overview and evaluation will prepare the groundwork for a possible future presentation of Charmatz’s grander vision for a Musée de la danse in Philadelphia.

Each September, the Fringe Festival spans all neighborhoods of our city with over 1,000 performances, offering “an unparalleled opportunity to see a cross section of the world’s greatest experimenters at one time, in one city”.

Leveé des conflits is made possible thanks to generous support from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. For more information, visit www.pcah.us.