Cre­ated in 2018 as part of a Franco-Lithuani­an pro­ject in Klai­peda, Brandir is a work I began by pos­ing the fol­low­ing ques­tions to the per­formers: How do we bring people togeth­er? How do we integ­rate into a com­munity? How do we give voice to the invis­ible? How do we make our bod­ies a space of free­dom and uto­pia? How do we rebel against those who refuse to see us?

In Brandir, audi­ence mem­bers seated in a quadri-front­al con­fig­ur­a­tion can observe up close the uncon­di­tion­al aspir­a­tion of the indi­vidu­al, and of a com­munity, to be one­self and to fol­low one’s own con­vic­tions and val­ues, rather than those imposed by oth­ers. Stand­ing up and declar­ing “look at who I am”, reclaim­ing our bod­ies as oases of poetry demands cour­age and free­dom, but also a great deal of humor and self-deprecation.

As part of the Danse en ama­teurs et réper­toire pro­gram estab­lished by the CND-Pantin, the group À L’ABORDAGE takes up, trans­forms, reworks and remixes the score of Brandir to deliv­er their own version.