Mr. Samuel Mathieu
(France)
Thursday, 06/17/2021 | 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM | Playhouse
20,- €, reduced 11,- €
In the summer of 1518, something strange happened in Strasbourg. In the narrow streets and squares of the city, dozens of people danced wildly to the rhythm of tambourines, viols, and bagpipes. But it wasn't a party mood. Medical historian John Waller stated in his 2009 reference work The Dancing Plague, that the scenes are frighteningly waiting.
The women, men, and children affected by this strange dancing hysteria screamed, calling for help – but stopping was impossible. They were trapped in a trance. They all had „a vacant look on their faces as they gazed skyward; their arms and legs twitching with jerky and weary movements; their shirts, skirts, and stockings clinging damply to their emaciated bodies,“ as John Waller describes it. Within days, the cases multiplied like a spreading virus, sowing fear and death in the Alsatian town. Many of the involuntary dancers did not survive this death dance, reminiscent of the Danse Macabre. It was a woman, Frau Troffea, who first triggered this dancing demise on July 14th of that year. Nowadays, after the experiences of Corona, she would probably be called Patient Zero: the first infected individual during an epidemic.
Both as a choreographic object and as a field of experimentation Mrs. Troffea a reference to #MeQueer experiences in relation to homophobia and everyday discrimination, which gay, bisexual, or transgender people often have to endure. Samuel Mathieu This refers to the work of Marie-Hélène (now Sam) Bourcier – a sociologist, researcher, and lecturer at the University of Lille III, who repeatedly discusses the idea of hierarchy-free relationships between genders in her academic work, placing it within the scientific context of Feminism/Transferism, Gender Studies, Trans Studies, Queer Studies, Post-Colonial Studies, and Porn Studies. Choreographically, Mathieu discusses the body and its vocabulary, bringing it into discourse with its environment, where postures escalate, a collision of thoughts and words with the body itself, pushing the performer beyond their own limits without pre-conceived outcomes – a permanent search for the expansion and liberalization of the concept of gender, roles, and attributes of the typically feminine, the typically masculine, as defined by power relations and not as an essence of humanity.
Concept: Samuel Mathieu Choreography: Samuel Mathieu, Martin Mauriès Music: Maxime Denuc Lighting design: Arthur Gueydan Dance: Martin Mauriès Duration: 40 minutes
Samuel Mathieu studied ballet and contemporary dance at the École Nationale de Musique et Danse in La Rochelle, where he was taught by Karin Waehner, among others. As a dancer, Samuel Mathieu worked with Régine Chopinot, Jean-Claude Gallotta, Robert Seyfried and Tomeo Vergés. In 2001, he founded his own company and began working as a choreographer. In 2004 he created Est-ce-O-Elle-O-solo also Us band and Go On!. In 2008 he created North-Reich-North for Ballet Vorpommern. In the same year, Yan, a French-Chinese project. In 2015 and 2017, he and his Cie Samuel Mathieu were guests at the festival TANZ | MODERNE | TANZ mit Us band and Assassins, where he dealt with political topics such as questions of power.
