Encounter about
A MON SEUL DÉSIR
A mon seul désir calls on the six tapestries known collectively as The Lady and the Unicorn, displayed in the Musée de Cluny in Paris – likely an allegory for the five senses, and for a sixth one that remains a mystery. A red madder sheet bedecked in flowers serves as a backdrop in front of which four women stand, representing at once the young women of the tapestries as well as the animals those depict – lions, foxes, rabbits, birds, monkeys... and of course the unicorn, symbol of chastity. Unicorns are said to be wild and to only let young maidens approach them. Are the young women virgins, then? What could then be the meaning of those numerous rabbits? Accompanied by a tale that lets the audience delve into the various interpretations of the tapestries, this choreographic play patiently unravels a key question in the history of European art: that of the representation of women's virginity, or lack thereof. Created in 2014, A mon seul désir continues the critical history of representations that Gaëlle Bourges has been developing play after play, in particular with the triptych Vider Vénus: Je baise les yeux (2009), La belle indifférence (2010), and Le verrou (figure de fantaisie attribuée à tort à Fragonard) (2013).
GAËLLE BOURGES
After graduating from university with a degree in modern literature, Gaëlle Bourges wrote or co-wrote a number of dance plays (working with Compagnie du K, Groupe Raoul Batz, and today with the association Os). Between 2000 and 2005, she worked on a series of shows collectively called Homothétie 949 ou les contours progressifs de l'index 10 with the Groupe Raoul Batz, a study on perspective, anatomy, and automata. Thus began a project aiming to dissect the way we look at things, which continues today to give birth to plays which, together, constitute a short history of sight. Words and bodies are seen as equal partners in this ongoing dialogue with the history of representations. For Gaëlle Bourges, the goal remains to understand, and to loosen, the categories that make us by borrowing heavily from art history.
Distribution
with
Gaëlle Bourges
Production
production association Os
photo © Stéphane Lavoué
