Afternoon of a Foehn - Version 1

Trained in juggling, mime and contemporary dance, Phia Ménard chooses to tame delicate materials. With the artistic project I.C.E. (Injonglabilité Complémentaire des Éléments), she tackles blocks of ice while beginning a cycle of Wind parts, to which Afternoon of a Foehn Version 1. A ballet of plastic-bag nymphs comes to life thanks to the effluvia of fans arranged in a circle around the stage. With humor and poetry, the artist composes a surprising aerial choreography from the scraps of the oil industry. A few pieces of tape are all it takes for a master of ceremonies to give these wireless puppets a human form. He or she moves among these characters with a breath, playing with the flow of air to make the multicolored bags rise, fall and spin. This very personal transposition of the iconic Afternoon of a Faun by dancer-star Nijinsky replaces the mythological creature with the indomitable god Aeolus, and his transalpine wind called foehn. With original music by Debussy (L'Après-midi d'un faune, Nocturnes and Dialogue between wind and sea), the lightness and randomness of the trajectories created by the vortex captivate the viewer's attention in favor of the spellbinding contemplation of a waltz of air.

Since 1998, Phia Ménard is the artistic director of Compagnie Non Nova. Between performance, dance and circus, she approaches the art of juggling in a very personal way, questioning the notions of transformation, erosion or sublimation of natural materials (ice, water, wind...). After the Ice Pieces cycle and the Wind Pieces cycle, came the Water and Steam cycle, culminating in the Garden and Ruins Pieces. All these creations examine human behavior, questioning gender, identity, norms and margins, as much as artistic freedom and the renewal of representations.
She presented at the TJP Afternoon of a Foehn Version 1, Belle d'hier and P.P.P.

" Trying to tame the wind, the puppeteer transforms a swarm of plastic bags into a sublime, unsettling ballet of children. "
TéléramaThierry Voisin, 07/2022

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