body states
Matthieu Burner | Amaraoui Burner Project

Dance as a visible event does not interest me directly. It is the vector of one lived experience, of an emotion, of a tension which is managed in real time between the performers and the intensity which lives in them. To make those dynamics transparent, as on the scene as with the interior of the spectator. I seek a dance which doesn't have any possible reference to our time, style, culture, but nevertheless speaks to us on an existential level.
A dance which would be registered more deeply in us.
~ Matthieu Burner

This module's research aims at freeing oneself from habits, recurring patterns and limiting judgements that one usually projects onto her/ his own's actions. Unloading the body from the mental control and the burden of expectations that comes with it, to find new creative freedom of physical expression through our dance. In these three weeks we'll practice the shift of our attention from the questioning of where, who, what, to the action of letting go, in order for new situations, perceptions and experiences to happen. We'll establish new routes and routines to a more finely honed, conscious level of presence as the ground for the embodiement of genuine intentions and physical states.

The work is a three-step process: in the first part we focus on sharpening our perceptions of the inner world through the body. As curious as it may sound, we'll first learn not to move. Using Vipassana meditation-inspired tasks, we challenge our habits so that our being with oneself, sensing one's whole structure, increases in relation to the doing. We learn to be present to ourselves through our skin, organs and bones.

This powerfull self-containment, that can last up to 30 minutes, brings us clarity toward what is required for a movement to happen and helps us to recognize the motivation and primary impulses behind our actions. It is a conscious process of scratching the 'social mind's surface to reach toward the deeper layers of intentions. A body state is containing in itself directions and intentions. The work is to feel and let these states drive us, to let their deep nature ultimately lead us to authentic inspiration and hidden energies. In this context you are then dancing in an intimate dialog with yourself, your history and the many facets that you contain.

The second part of the work focuses on making room, getting free, opening up the second layer - the mental. How to let go? We will mix absurd and serious inspirations drawn from different fields and body practices (image-movement exploration, contact improvisation, partnering, Grinberg method, improvisation scores, animal embodiement) to concretely bring us out of our head and co-exist with what we usually define as ridiculous or « not good ». Not to be « a head », but a body. Not to be « ahead », but in the now. We'll use several strategies in the form of games to trick ourself to be more in the present experience with proposition like: being late, playing with what we don't see, being wrong, doing the opposite of what you feel like, not being where you are. The inner freedom that results from such way of operating is the fertile and playful ground in which we plant the seeds of our movement. Gradually our nervous system learn to operate and feel at home in the intensity of this new energies - released by breaking the usual patterns of control - and learn to play with it rather than control it.

This is the third part of the work, where all the sensitivity and openess acquired before is invested in the dialog with other « worlds », other bodies, other spaces, and the watchers. In the last week of the module I will ask you to identify the body state/s you want to work on, and to articulate personal strategies to conduct your own research on it. We will be able from now to consctruct and develop structures for your personal work, where the meaning we carry in our action is the start of a dramaturgy, of a piece, which is containing more than its content.

We will create frames of witnessing and exchange within the group, so that each particpant's inquiry can trigger and enrich the other's research processes. I will propose you different formats where we can experience the different roles of watcher and mover, finding new meanings and modalities of exposing oneself to an audience and of perceiveing as an audience such exposure in an empathic mode.


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When Matthieu was nine years old, Mirjam Bern - an ex-dancer of Merce Cunningham - started an improvisation dance class in his small village in France. He was immediately drawn there by curiosity and a desire to expand his body. He then started taking regular contemporary classes in Grenoble, to teach his body knowledge, skills and openness. As Matthieu resembled a girl, he got asked to replace an injured female dancer in L'album Junior, a company for young performers. From then on, he entered the creative process of constructing pieces and then touring around France. Discovering body experiences and sharing them with other dancers and audiences became the hub of his life. And it has never stopped!

Those first ten instinctive years of dancing brought Matthieu to a point where he realized that he needed to confront his body and his perceptions of different techniques and conceptions of movement. Matthieu began studying at the National Contemporary Dance Center in Angers, and after that worked as a professional dancer with the Philippe Saire Company in Switzerland. Later he went on to work with Dominique Dupuy, Felix Rückert, Eun Me Ahn, Tino Segahl, Arthur Kuggelheyn.

In 2003, born out of recurring frustrations with the people he worked with, Matthieu and Nabih Amaraoui started to gather ideas, emotions, music, systems of movement and intentions in Berlin. The AMARAOUI BURNER PROJECT was founded. First they created duets, as the core of the company was based on their personal relationship. This led to the realization that the interaction between the two dancers was way more powerful than the solitary action of each one. That brought about One to One, a duet exploring the social domination/submission behaviors that we perpetuate. The duo then delved deeper into these energies, trying to explore them on a more raw level, and creating several works on the theme. The last production "Them" (2012) is their first group experiment and is touring Europe.

Matthieu is currently involved in a long-term collaboration with choreographers Laurent Chetouane and Boris Charmatz. Both of these artists are enriching and influencing his own practice. He is also committed to educational activities with dance professionals, teachers, students, and non-dancers. This educational work is directly linked to his practice as choreographer and performer.

website
www.amaraouiburnerproject.com


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Photos:
Oliver Fantitsch
Guglielmo Grimaldi
Carecchio Elisabeth