LIVE WORK
Images by Mila Nijinksy
A L’ENVERS DES TERRITOIRES
Should we seek access to "safe spaces" free from harm, or "become the jaw" in a hostile environment?
A l’Envers des Territoires is a solo performance exploring the constraint of movement through clothing in improvisation. Like a bacterium, a foreign body grows in a space and feeds on its surroundings until it settles into a new envelope, reshaped in its image, defined by the states that arise in the moment.
The territory is a place/physical or mental space identified and defined. We visit and inhabit those that bring us comfort, we avoid those that cause us anxiety, and sometimes we cross perilous borders... A l’Envers des Territoires raises the importance of questioning and naming the spaces we traverse. From bacterium to planet.
Artistic and musical direction, performer: Vivi Knuchel
Costume creation assistance: Emma Wolf
Sound engineer: Gabriel Barthel
Residency hosts: Artopie – Centre de création artistique (Meisenthal, France) / Réservoir Danse, Rennes
PRESENTATIONS: September 21, 2024: Le Séchoir, Mulhouse / January, 27, 2024: Réservoir Danse, Rennes / June 6, 2023: Demostratif Festival, Strasbourg / April 29, 2023: Inact Festival, Strasbourg / April 7, 2023: La Péniche Mécanique, Strasbourg / March 2023: Open House at the University of Strasbourg
Workshop on 25/01/24 around the performance at Reservoir Danse, Rennes
Images by Charles DeBarry / Inact Festival 2023
Galerie Le Séchoir / Septembre 21, 2024
La Terre des Cigognes
Creation 2024, Storytelling and Strolling Brass Band
Project supported by the Cigoland amusement park (Kintzheim) for ages 4 and up.
Charged with telling the adventures of migrating storks, three anthropomorphic storks traverse the human world to share stories from the land of storks. Equipped with various musical instruments, our friendly storks sing praises of the skies and distant lands. To the ukulele tunes of the stork troubadour Titi Blanc-Bec, the tales of Archibald Long-Bec take children and adults alike through Alsatian legends, such as those of Nideck and Haut-Koenigsbourg, and even beyond borders, across the Mediterranean and to Kenya, a resting place for our majestic birds while winter passes.
In a village, park, or along a promenade, this strolling setup presents itself as a flight towards:
Joyful improvisations with kazoos, drums, maracas, and ukulele
Dreamy French songs
Story readings with musical accompaniment
Burlesque and clown moments
The trio engages with families and maintains close proximity to the audience. The format can also be static on a stage for a 30-minute “Stories and Music” performance.
Directed by: Vivi Knuchel
Performers/musicians: Vivi Knuchel, Tallulah Strubel, Tillian Strubel
Writing: Vivi Knuchel, Tillian Strubel
Costume creation: Tallulah Strubel
PERFORMANCES: July 1, 2023 & July 1, > 7, 2024, at the Cigoland amusement park (Kintzheim)
Images by Orlane Laage
HOULE
HOULE was born from an initiative by Charlotte Gergaud, who won the "The Best Idea" award at the OPUS - Short Dance Piece - 2021 festival, organized by JSKD, Celje, Slovenia. This award allowed her to be invited for a residency at STUDIO INTAKT in Ljubljana in 2022 to produce the creation.
Artistic Director and Choreographer: Charlotte Gergaud
Performers / Scenography : Charlotte Gergaud and Vivi Knuchel
Music Composition: Vivi Knuchel
Lighting: Hotimir Knific
Production: JSKD and Plesni Studio INTAKT 2021
Studio Host: MJC du Plateau, Saint-Brieuc, Brittany
Residency Hosts: Le LIEU – Space for creation and exchange dedicated to dance (Guingamp, France), Artopie – Centre de création artistique (Meisenthal, France), and Dance Studio INTAKT (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Réservoir Danse, Rennes)
PRESENTATIONS: July 21, 2023: Mil Lieux Festival, Guingamp, France / June 16 2022: Španski Borci, Ljubljana / April 16 2022 – Premiere at Plesni Forum Celje, Dance Forum, Celje
Images by Anka Simonic / at Španski Borci, June 16 2022
TRADUIT DU SILENCE
Emilie Kohler and Vivi Knuchel are Kok! and Nüu!
With Traduit du Silence, Kok!Nüu! explores the world of writer and poet Joë Bousquet. A wounded poet, paralyzed since the war. His mind overflows with both light and darkness. Armed with their bodies and noisy objects, they seek to hear, share, and translate the writing of a haunted mind. Who are the monsters of his nights? What is the shadow that follows him?
Artistic Direction: Emilie Kohler and Vivi Knuchel
Writing: Emilie Kohler
Sound Creation: Vivi Knuchel
The company Kok!Nüu! is supported by the Demostratif Festival (Strasbourg)
PRESENTATIONS: June 29/30, 2021: Premieres at Demostratif Festival, Strasbourg / July 11, 2021: Inact Festival, Strasbourg / September 19, 2021: Equinox Festival, Strasbourg
August 23-27, 2021: Workshop with primary and middle school students
Creation of a musical tale and an illustrated zine, Saverne, France
June 27, 2021: Led a sound creation workshop with young people for the neighborhood festival "Fête des Voisins" organized by the association Le Petit Nid, Esplanade district, Strasbourg, France
Images by Mila Nijinsky
TÊTES-A-TÊTES
"Mémé Honka didn’t know how to swim, but she knew that, just like in the beams of a lighthouse or the depths of a forest, we are born and we die."
The ocean is in a storm, and memories resurface! In an abandoned lighthouse, a brother and sister travel through the past to find the words left behind by Mémé. Echoes of her voice have been heard along the coast. She will even appear in the dreams of some. A golden oyster, a strange salad, and fishing nets will be the tools for this expedition. “Mémé! Will we find you in this storm?” A musical tale in which strange abstract bodies wander the stage. We dive with them into a visual and sonic marine universe, bringing waves of emotions to both young and old alike!
Artistic direction and performers: Apolline Agard, Vivi Knuchel, Charlotte Gergaud
Text and voice: Apolline Agard
Music direction: Vivi Knuchel
Choreography direction: Charlotte Gergaud
PRESENTATIONS: September 23, 2019: Sarcus Festival, Tours, France / October 10, 2019: 3rd anniversary of the creators' boutique "Le Générateur", Place St-Madeleine, Strasbourg, France
SOLEIL SESSION
Creation 2018: Collective Dance Performance and Micro-Publishing
A strange group of individuals tells the story of a gigantic source of light called "the SUN," which would allow one to become the most powerful being and escape the immense vault in which a group of humans is confined. A ritual is organized to determine which of the four candidates is worthy of becoming the "SUN." This ritual takes place in a circle surrounded by lamps. It is called the SOLEIL SESSION. A circle, four dancers. Like a dogfight, but without the fangs. Originally a musical project, it evolved into a performance. A group dance project emerged from this, creating a dynamic of immanent madness.
This project is set in the fictional universe of the music group STRASS & PARESS. These stories take place in a world cut off from the outside, where living beings have begun to mutate in the darkness. The only way to light up is through battery-powered lamps, with batteries becoming a costly currency and the source of dangerous trafficking. To hide their disfigurements, some have decided to craft masks and wander in the dark. The universe develops through the performance, visuals, and texts.
Artistic direction, choreographic direction, and plastic/graphic creation: Vivi Knuchel
Dancers: Charlotte Gergaud, Pierre l’Hôte, Naomi Weidmann, Camille Mahout
Costumes and masks: Grégoire Chaudron
Sound creation: Vivi Knuchel, Pierre Dagens
With the participation of: Perline Aglaghanian / Tri Bon Beck / Livia Leonetti / Hugues AzaArt
Photos and videos: Noémie Bolettieri
