Forget Jiminy Cricket and Walt Disney: in this dazzlingly personal version of the well-known classic, the inimitable Hélène Blackburn explores the metamorphoses that shape our lives, and even our life's work.
Who is telling the truth: the work or its creator? In the age of artificial intelligence, it may be the nose of the first Pinocchio that holds the answer to this question. In the original 1881 book, Carlo Collodi explores what the puppet tells us about its creator, on the one hand, and the astonishing transformations that are carving our future like wood, on the other. With Projet Pinocchio, Blackburn distills the exceptional choreographic material lodged in these reflections through an athletic signature whose hypnotizing magic she alone knows how to deploy. Before our very eyes, five performers take us on a journey through the torments of the body, the suprises of aging, the changes we are all confronted with. The choreography, subtle yet demanding, takes them back to the astonishing plant and animal evolutions that have built our common history, to find something to build on: horsing around, chickening out, lions' heart and copy cats alike. Each one becomes its own work, revealing the unsuspected depths of the creative gesture. Blackburn deconstructs the story of Pinocchio to extract its subtle essence, its articulated gestures, its human form oriented towards change.
credits
Creation Cas Public / Hélène Blackburn Choreography and Artistic Direction Hélène Blackburn Performers Aicha Benchâaboune, Gianni Illiaquer, Adrian Maxwell-Campagna, Norika Isomura, Zack Preece, Élodie Scholtes-Labrecque, Douglas Oliveira Music Vincent Legault
Set Design Hélène Blackburn in collaboration with Emmanuel Landry Lighting Design Emmanuel Landry Costume Design Michael Slack Animations Marjolaine Leray VIDEOS Direction Xavier Curnillon Director of Photography Yann Manuel Hernandez Co-produced by Agora de la danse [Montreal, Canada] and the Centre André Malraux / Scène(s) de territoire / Hazebrouck [Hazebrouck, France] Creative residencies Agora de la danse [Montreal, Canada], Théâtre de la Ville [Longueuil, Canada], Centre André Malraux / Scène(s) de territoire / Hazebrouck [Hazebrouck, France]