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Múa, 1995

"At the intersection of the opaque body and the world there is a single ray of light. "
Maurice Merleau-Ponty

This piece relates to three experiences I had which affected me deeply, experiences which, although very different, are closely linked in my mind. First there was the Dark Noir event by Michel Reilhac at the Vidéothèque of Paris. The spectator would be plunged into total darkness, trying to feel, grasp, follow, understand what is around him or her. The simplest physical sensations were transformed and increased tenfold. For me, the mere act of seeing took on an unknown power after having experienced this “passage in the dark.” It seemed to me that I might focus on this reflection as it concerned the body, and then on the dancer’s body.

Improvising with closed eyes was the second experience, connecting to my own journey as a dancer. Closing the eyes renders some things fragile while enhancing others -- dancing with closed eyes is fundamental for the dancer. The interior work of sensation, when it is cut off from one’s normal visual projection outward, becomes exceptionally resonant, carrying the dancer to a state of rare intensity.

Finally, thanks to the grant I received from Villa Médicis hors les murs, the time I spent in Vietnam was important for me both personally and artistically. Since I did not speak the language, dance was my only link to the Vietnamese people beyond ordinary everyday activities. In theory I was working in a world I did not know, but I had the feeling I knew and recognised things there which were deeply ingrained in me, a part of me.

Múa is to be experienced in a space where darkness/ light, appearance/ disappearance, silence/ music and dance/ immobility are the interfaces of a single idea: moving into the self and to the world.
Emmanuelle Huynh

photo © Jean-Baptiste Huynh

Conception Emmanuelle Huynh

Form for immobility Emmanuelle Huynh

darkness Yves Godin

silence Kasper T. Toeplitz

transparency Christian Rizzo

Production Plateforme Múa / Coproduction the Théâtre contemporain de la danse
Emmanuelle Huynh was the recipient of a Villa Médicis hors les murs grant to work and do research in Vietnam.

Running time 30 mn

The world premiere of Múa was in 1995 at the Théâtre contemporain de la danse.

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