What could be more beautiful than soaring through the air? Never before has the need to conquer the skies been so intensely felt as in these times of confinement and deprivation of freedom. An endeavour that Séverine Bennevault Caton, with her French aerial dance company À Fleur d'Airs, has made a success out of and transformed into an artform. She conceived the solo piece Desattractions1.62 precisely as a response to the pandemic, in her own word «a breath of fresh air, a feeling of elation, breathing deeply and sharing positive vibes». A weightless journey in the company of David Bowie, Radiohead but also Claude Debussy. The title refers to the weight on the moon, where gravity is equal to 1.62m/s2, and gravity and her weight on earth, which Séverine wants spectators to forget she has. After all, aerial dance is a form of “augmented” reality, an acrobatic discipline whose mission is to overcome boundaries and constraints, consistently transformed into opportunities.
The same opportunities that a happy artistic partnership can bring with it. Which is the case of Séverine Bennevault Caton and Serge Ambert. A well-known and eclectic dancer for Andy Degroat, François Raffinot, Francine Lancelot and Jean-Claude Gallotta, then, since 2004, choreographer for his own company Les alentours rêveurs, Serge Ambert is the interpreter and co-author with Séverine Bennevault Caton of La Diagonale des Anges, the second piece presented at the Festival. A duet in which they also perform, where sky and earth, seek a point of encounter and balance. The two performers depart from the plot line on a path of spontaneity and improvisation, inspired by the specific setting and location in which the piece is staged. An unprecedented encounter of two different forms of gesture and choreography, usually far apart but which joyfully come together here in a spirit of dialogue.
