Sharing a fiery energy, Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer and Arthur Harrell, the artist trio of (La)Horde, led by the Ballet de Marseille, revolutionize dance codes and hybridize genres. They trust with one voice.
When you attend a (La)Horde show, you are struck by the sharp sense of staging, the flashes of bodies in motion, and the aesthetic that captures the spirit of the times. This multidisciplinary collective, consisting of Parisian visual artists and choreographers Marin Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer and Arthur Harrell, has been leading the National Ballet of Marseille since 2019. The variable geometric design (La)Horde reveals dance as intimate. language, an imbued search for identity, a claim, and a realization that is accessible to all. In the form of performances, their works travel to the stages of the most prestigious theaters, immersing themselves in all styles of dance art. In full preparation for a tour of the United States and their subsequent creation, The age of content (1), the founders of (La)Horde narrate their journey and express themselves in heterophony through a single voice that symbolizes their understanding.
Birth of the collective
“We met when we were 20 years old, at the university. We were three versatile creators: choreographers, directors, videographers and visual artists at the same time. We went to the same shows, movies, exhibits, and read the same books. In 2013, we created (La)Horde, whose name, which is easy to remember, symbolizes the importance that our generation gives to the meaning of the group. The main driving force was the desire to fade behind the collective. There’s something expansive about Horde, which reflects the fact that we welcome other artists as well, depending on the project. And obviously there is a wild and animal side to our approach. We believe in democratizing art, modernizing its codes and wanted to create bridges between disciplines. Therefore, our shows are at the intersection of genres and question our society, its utopia, tomorrow.”
Inspiration
“We are inspired by choreographers like Pina Bausch. He was not so much interested in how bodies move, but in what sets them in motion. Like him, we want to attack the cause of human movement. (La) For the Horde, dance is an expression of demands, social and political issues. The intimate upheavals of youth are at the core of our work. Through dance, we want to emphasize the awakening of a generation that today is extremely aware of environmental issues. For example, the main message of the show Room with a view (with the Marseille Ballet) was an ecological emergency. We also work with loyal directors like Spike Jonze, who is behind both of these films. Being John Malkovich and Kanye West’s music videos. We signed a short film with him titled Ghosts, on the freedom of the body in the divided spaces of the city. »
(La) For the Horde, dance is an expression of demands, social and political issues. The intimate upheavals of youth are at the core of our work.
(Horde
Variable geometry
“When we took over the management of the National Ballet of Marseille, we asked ourselves how to imagine the evolution of this institution founded in 1972 by Roland Petit. ? The first step consisted in getting rid of the idea of a company composed of the same number of dancers tirelessly. With the (La) Horde, we can be three, we can be five hundred, we can be even more.”
Performance exhibition
“In our line of work, we make it a point of honor to meet people before we meet dancers. Their technique is important, but it is not everything. We are drawn to the experience that shines through in everyone’s movement. The idea is to immerse the dancer and the audience in a series of booths. This is what we wanted to do with this kind of creation We should never have walked on the moon. This piece, inspired by the musical, mobilized around fifty performers, including dancers from the Marseille Ballet, as well as stuntmen, DJs and “jumpers” from around the world. We have invested in large spaces such as the National Theater of Chaillot. Performances took place simultaneously on all floors. Society roamed freely in space. We ask the viewer to choose his own path, find his own rhythm, his own time. We live in an age where thousands of images parade across our screens. It is necessary to prioritize information, take time to welcome or reject, and create privileged moments.”
In the video: “In body” trailer
There are no age and gender barriers
“For us, differences create common sense. From our first shows, we wanted to reverse age and gender codes. In our room moms, for example, we recruited twenty-eight amateurs between the ages of 18 and 75 to dance. It was interesting to see these generations and poorly represented bodies together, and to question our relationship with beauty. We have no desire to follow the physical norms imposed by society. But we’re also careful not to fall into an inverted aesthetic, which is just as questionable.”
Jumpstyle and voguing
“Our universe borrows as much from pop culture as it does from Michel Foucault. We are interested in the plurality of choreographic aesthetics, and we have staged the rave phenomenon as much as folk dances in Georgia. We love creating explosive weddings. Our dancers fuse the aesthetics of modern ballet with urban dances like voguing, born in New York City in gay and African-American clubs. Or jumpstyle, a wild dance that originated in Belgium in the late 1990s to hard-core techno music. From our creations, Room with a view with the prolific musician Rone definitely mixing this type of dance the most. The show depicts an apocalypse, an economic, societal and ecological collapse. And it expresses how much the current generations try to dispel those fears through dance and music.
Our universe borrows as much from pop culture as it does from Michel Foucault
(Horde
Post-internet dance
“(La) Horde’s work also consists of researching viral content on the Internet. The Internet has given birth to a number of new forms of choreographic styles. For example, the success of jumpstyle is closely related to the Internet, as well as the dance of sturdy, which appeared on TikTok, based on acrobatics and sliding on the ground. The dancer remains fixed in the camera frame, the movements are transmitted online. “post-internet” dance was born. It’s a term that fits our vision as it captures how the body today engages in real and virtual spaces, 3D and 2D. These new spaces of expression have led many to film themselves dancing at home and share these images. This gesture allows us to access subgenre dances, tutorials. We have integrated them into our shows. For us, the Internet is an extension of reality.”
The age of content
“It’s our next piece and we’ve been working on it for two years with dancers from the National Ballet of Marseille who are sixteen different nationalities. The first will take place at the Biennale de la danse in Lyon, and then we will land in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet. The age of content is a study of the language of the metaverse we encounter. This show projects the body in virtuality, in social networks, in video games. It is also fueled by musical comedy, which has never been more viral in the US than during the crisis, when, paradoxically, people danced. Today we live in a time of global change and we see young people passionate about dance. Dance has never been so powerful. We strongly believe that we can find solutions through the body.”
(1) “The age of content(The Age of Content), October 5 to 8, at the Théâtre du Châtelet, a co-production with the Théâtre de la Ville, Paris.
Source: Le Figaro
