Sinople examines our relationship with the colour green, which is medium, ambivalent and vital. Neither hot nor cold, located in the middle of the visible spectrum, on the surface of our planet, between the incandescent core and the ultraviolet atmosphere, what does this colour evoke about a certain balance to be found? From primitive seaweeds to our links with idealized nature, from gaming tables to greenwashing, from the intelligence of plants to pharmacopoeia, what does green – named sinople in medieval coats of arms – teach us about urban development, neo-rurality and (bio)diversity? Two dancers, a musician, a huge sail and four bamboos transform spaces and invite us on a choreo > graphic journey.
How does green colour condition us ?
Sinople refers to the generic of all types of green in heraldry. The performance deals with ecological, aesthetic, scientific and philosophical issues related to the green colour. According to historian Michel Pastoureau, this polymorphous, ambivalent colour, in the middle of the coloured visible spectrum and global electromagnetic radiation, also refers to the ambiguity of playing surfaces, while being taboo in theatre. Fetish of today’s greenwashing, it is also used to seduce in the tactics of marketing and politics.
How does green colour speak to our inner impulses and our idealized, nostalgic longing for a return to nature, often reduced to a flat colour? Does it condition our future urban landscapes, our agri-food survival in the face of industrial and pharmaceutical pressures linked to the challenges of the Anthropocene? What does the intelligence of plants teach us about the balance we need to find, about our deep-rooted movements, about (bio)diversity and the survival of our humanity? Precious on the surface of our planet, this median colour remains to be preserved between incandescent core and ultraviolet atmosphere, drought and torrential rain. The live sound space interweaves evolving layers of multiple influences with the sung voice.
A graphic gesture of bodies with the green artifact
A 12 x 7.5-metre monochrome Lycra sail, named Green Screen Pantone, is the playground for a history of green, redesigning the space for two dancers who are alternately partners and adversaries. The bodies explore vegetative states on several levels, from the complex spiral of walking as the first dance of the Living, through the rituals of unfolding to the festive gathering under the canopy, via the jolts of speakers for green, well-being, bio, ecolo or green profit. Sinople also revisits Kurt Jooss’s Der Grüne Tisch (The Green Table), a play created in 1932 in a time of political crisis, to echo the environmental crisis.
Sinople Series
The piece also exists in the form of a series of 7 short discontinuous sequences (12-15 min) that fit together like pieces of a puzzle and are titled: Primitive Life / Playground / Folds / Solastalgia / Pharmacy / Soil-less / Symbiocene. This formula was created with only 2 dancers and music broadcast on mobile speakers, in April 2023 at the Sismograf festival in Olot, Catalonia (E).
Sinople Solo
It was first presented as a research project at the Royal Cabanon festival (photos & video below) in Rognes (Provence, F) in December 2021.
Sinople solo is developed as part of the Horizon Vert ambulatory show, for the Antigel festival on February 2024, at Lullier Horticulture Centre, in Jussy, canton of Geneva (CH) > web.
Festival Mimos, July 9-10 2022, Périgueux (F, 24) – Festival Sismograf April 13>15 2023, Olot (E) – Festival des arts du geste June 18. 2023, St Julien en Genevois (F, 74) – Festival Avant le soir July 3-5 + September 9. 2023, Marseille (F,13) – Antigel festival February 9-10 2024, at the Lullier Centre horticole, in Jussy, canton of Geneva (CH).
Choreography, scenography, dance : Gilles Viandier / Dance : Gaspard Charon / Composition, flute and singing : Clotilde Rullaud / Drawings & Video : Morgan Navarro / Lights : Line Muckensturm / Dramaturgical look : Damien Gault / Production : Promenade d’artiste, Adeline Pierrat / Coproduction : Théâtre de L’Odyssée, Scène conventionnée Art & creation, festival Mimos, Périgueux / Accueil studio : Dans les Parages, Marseille – MOD > Marseille Objectif Danse – Groupe scolaire Robespierre, Aubervilliers. Support of ADAMI for the video recording.
BOOKLET-STORYBOARD (A5 folded from A3), designed by Morgan Navarro and distributed to the audience after the show :
SINOPLE, 2022 + Variations
Synopsis
Sinople examines our relationship with the colour green, which is medium, ambivalent and vital. Neither hot nor cold, located in the middle of the visible spectrum, on the surface of our planet, between the incandescent core and the ultraviolet atmosphere, what does this colour evoke about a certain balance to be found? From primitive seaweeds to our links with idealized nature, from gaming tables to greenwashing, from the intelligence of plants to pharmacopoeia, what does green – named sinople in medieval coats of arms – teach us about urban development, neo-rurality and (bio)diversity? Two dancers, a musician, a huge sail and four bamboos transform spaces and invite us on a choreo > graphic journey.
How does green colour condition us ?
Sinople refers to the generic of all types of green in heraldry. The performance deals with ecological, aesthetic, scientific and philosophical issues related to the green colour. According to historian Michel Pastoureau, this polymorphous, ambivalent colour, in the middle of the coloured visible spectrum and global electromagnetic radiation, also refers to the ambiguity of playing surfaces, while being taboo in theatre. Fetish of today’s greenwashing, it is also used to seduce in the tactics of marketing and politics.
How does green colour speak to our inner impulses and our idealized, nostalgic longing for a return to nature, often reduced to a flat colour? Does it condition our future urban landscapes, our agri-food survival in the face of industrial and pharmaceutical pressures linked to the challenges of the Anthropocene? What does the intelligence of plants teach us about the balance we need to find, about our deep-rooted movements, about (bio)diversity and the survival of our humanity? Precious on the surface of our planet, this median colour remains to be preserved between incandescent core and ultraviolet atmosphere, drought and torrential rain. The live sound space interweaves evolving layers of multiple influences with the sung voice.
A graphic gesture of bodies with the green artifact
A 12 x 7.5-metre monochrome Lycra sail, named Green Screen Pantone, is the playground for a history of green, redesigning the space for two dancers who are alternately partners and adversaries. The bodies explore vegetative states on several levels, from the complex spiral of walking as the first dance of the Living, through the rituals of unfolding to the festive gathering under the canopy, via the jolts of speakers for green, well-being, bio, ecolo or green profit. Sinople also revisits Kurt Jooss’s Der Grüne Tisch (The Green Table), a play created in 1932 in a time of political crisis, to echo the environmental crisis.
Sinople Series
The piece also exists in the form of a series of 7 short discontinuous sequences (12-15 min) that fit together like pieces of a puzzle and are titled: Primitive Life / Playground / Folds / Solastalgia / Pharmacy / Soil-less / Symbiocene. This formula was created with only 2 dancers and music broadcast on mobile speakers, in April 2023 at the Sismograf festival in Olot, Catalonia (E).
Sinople Solo
It was first presented as a research project at the Royal Cabanon festival (photos & video below) in Rognes (Provence, F) in December 2021.
Sinople solo is developed as part of the Horizon Vert ambulatory show, for the Antigel festival on February 2024, at Lullier Horticulture Centre, in Jussy, canton of Geneva (CH) > web.
Report produced by Télévision Suisse Romande Léman Bleu > Quand une serre se transforme en expérience culturelle.
Tour
Festival Mimos, July 9-10 2022, Périgueux (F, 24) – Festival Sismograf April 13>15 2023, Olot (E) – Festival des arts du geste June 18. 2023, St Julien en Genevois (F, 74) – Festival Avant le soir July 3-5 + September 9. 2023, Marseille (F,13) – Antigel festival February 9-10 2024, at the Lullier Centre horticole, in Jussy, canton of Geneva (CH).
DOSSIER Sinople > Dossier 2024
Credits
Choreography, scenography, dance : Gilles Viandier / Dance : Gaspard Charon / Composition, flute and singing : Clotilde Rullaud / Drawings & Video : Morgan Navarro / Lights : Line Muckensturm / Dramaturgical look : Damien Gault / Production : Promenade d’artiste, Adeline Pierrat / Coproduction : Théâtre de L’Odyssée, Scène conventionnée Art & creation, festival Mimos, Périgueux / Accueil studio : Dans les Parages, Marseille – MOD > Marseille Objectif Danse – Groupe scolaire Robespierre, Aubervilliers. Support of ADAMI for the video recording.
BOOKLET-STORYBOARD (A5 folded from A3), designed by Morgan Navarro and distributed to the audience after the show :