Mathilde Monnier

Unlimited Gestures

“The body is an infinite reservoir of discovery and potential.”

Choreographer Mathilde Monnier has helped shape the contemporary dance landscape. Her pieces defy expectations and show constant renewal. She explores issues inherent to the discipline of composing movement, as well as themes linked to broader questions such as communality and the links between the body to music and memory. Her appointment as director of the Centre Choreographic National de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon in 1994 marked the beginning of a period of experimentation with other artistic fields, and a reflection on the role of the institution and its outreach.

Monnier has created more than 40 choreographic works, which have been performed on the world’s greatest stages and international festivals. She is the recipient of several awards, including the French Ministry of Culture prize, and the SACD Grand Prix, among others. From 2014 to 2019 she helmed the National Dance Centre, Paris (CN D). Thanks to her influence, the CN D is now known for its cross-disciplinarity, continually forging new links with other art forms and genres.

Mathilde Monnier, Soapéra, photo: Marc Coudrais

In addition, Monnier initiated the festival Afrique en création in Angola in the 1990s, known today as the Dance Biennial in Africa. She collaborated on establishing the center for choreography CDC la Termitière in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, directed by Salia Sanon and Seydou Boro. In 1997, Monnier set up France’s only master degree program dedicated to choreography, Excerce, at the CCN Montpellier. In 2014, she initiated the Camping program at the CN D, an international platform of workshops and exchanges for universities and independent artists.

“My main interest lies in the endless possibilities offered by movement and its expression,” says Monnier. “I still believe that the body is an infinite reservoir of discovery and potential. Dance remains a limitless territory, which is constantly in dialogue with other mediums in possible cross-contamination and exchange. My interest in movement is huge and not restricted to one genre. I think the body’s modus operandi is still a major political and artistic topic worth highlighting and questioning.”

As a mentor, Monnier is seeking applications not only from dancers and choreographers, but from anyone who incorporates body practices into their work. She also welcomes applications that integrate other topics relating to stage and scenography in relation to movement. “I consider the body and movement as active intelligence that speaks for itself,” she adds. “The more I go forward, the more my works return to simple forms that question time and space in a specific context. I also need and use humor as a tool in my work and to gain critical distance.”

mathildemonnier.com

Watch the video statement to find out more about what Monnier is looking for in applications:

Nominees

Aída Herrera Peña

Gestures of Domestic Memories

Designer, dancer, and researcher Aída Herrera Peña’s project looks at body language as the main source of knowledge production, which will form the basis for an experience aimed at reflecting and reimagining embodied domestic habits within Western consumer societies. The work critically explores the daily performance of a specific way of living by looking at the socio-cultural and political implications of bodily gestures, tacit and embodied knowledge, as well as context and history. The multidisciplinary work's point of departure is a migrant household worker offering services around the city of Berlin. Find out more

Simona Deaconescu

Ramanenjana

Simona Deaconescu proposes a performative docufiction project looking at Madagascar’s 1863 dancing plague. With source material including the writings of Andrew Davidson, Andrianjafy, and Emile Appolis, the work melds historical testimonies, choreographic gestures, and sound scenography. This project continues her research into the dance epidemics of medieval Europe, and is connected with scientific and scholarly research. Ramanenjana will result in a group docufiction performance with four international dancers, in collaboration with Malagasy choreographer Gaby Saranouffi and I'TRÔTRA International Dance Festival in Madagascar. Find out more

Samaké Moussa

Kouma Féréleen

Kouma Féréleen—which means “free speech” in Bambara—is an experimental choreography for a solo dancer based on Samaké Moussa’s own traumatizing experiences as a street kid in Burkina Faso, and his discovery of community, purpose, and joy in dance. Using improvisation and street dance styles but also somatic practices he attempts to "revisit these intimate places deeply buried inside me and find again these cathartic states of trance. I imagine this solo as a tribute to the abused child that I was, as a way to take care of that child still present in me,“ he says. Find out more

Mentee

Ramanenjana

Simona Deaconescu

Mentors Edition 6

Tatiana Bilbao

From Stories to Spaces

Francesca Bria

Data Democracy and the Green Transition

Sofia Jernberg

Sound as Organized Time

Ulli Lust

Translating Sensations

Mathilde Monnier

Unlimited Gestures

Emeka Ogboh

Sensing the World