Dance - Songs / 20-24 November 2007

Four animal women become hysterical WW wrestlers then traditional wrestlers. The show comprises four women, one man, one master, one referee; a musical choreography built on physical commitment and exercising one’s power over others; and bodies in the rough, several songs and a good dash of humour. Mark Tompkins had choreographed last season at Les Subsistances ANIMAL Mâle, a beautiful show set in a ring and developed by and with men. ANIMAL Femelle is the female flipside to last season’s show. The differences resides in the bodies of course, the way they confront each other, but also in their capacity to make an alliance and withstand pressure.


“Whereas in ANIMAL Mâle, some people saw a kind of over-the-top homo-erotic choreography, in a rapport of almost sexual pleasure aligned with violence, it is not possible to think that about the new show. I had a premonition that ANIMAL Femelle would talk to the great majority about the subjection of people, power plays and power images, and it does.” Mark Tompkins.

See the flyer Buffard/Tompkins (560 ko) !In french!
See the poster Buffard/Tompkins (433 ko) !In french!
See press release "Dance in november 07" (pdf / 589 KB) !In french!
See synopsis (pdf / 53 KB) !In french!

Why did you decide to create ANIMAL Femelle after ANIMAL Mâle?
Jean-Louis Badet - ANIMAL Femelle is the sequel to ANIMAL Mâle, created in 2005. To start all over again with women was to work with other performers and explore in depth certain aspects of the work. A change of gender was not the most important thing at the start. But the way the play is seen and what we show are inevitably interpreted in a different way because of the fact they are women.

Do you purposefully portray things the way you do? In a play performed by women, issues are very different…
Mark Tompkins - Yes, of course, we are offering another configuration. But for us it was not about making this play about struggle and power, with the difference that they were women. The sheer fact that they are women obviously changes everything.

Consequently, is it the same story unravelling on stage?
JLB - Yes, for me it is.
MT - Hum… I think ANIMAL Femelle zooms in on a certain number of things. Whereas in ANIMAL Mâle, some people saw a kind of over-the-top homo-erotic choreography, in an almost sexual pleasure aligned with violence, it is not possible to think that about the new show. I had a premonition that ANIMAL Femelle would have a more immediate and direct universal reach, and it does. It talks to the great majority about the subjection of people, power plays and power images. The play is harder to perform but easier to read. There is however some matter, I would even call it “flesh”, which some people cannot go beyond and this presence of primary bodies stops them from going any further.

Has the work been different with men and women?
MT - Yes, if only because with the “males” is was pure creation and we were building something together. With the “females”, we had a pre-prepared script. And we have then asked them to search for things related to them. As we progressed, we sometimes thought about changing things because they were women, before realising that we had to change nothing, to keep the same words and songs, and that it would be them, by the way they would seize them, who were going to modify the nature of what is said on stage.

How would you define this change in nature?
MT - It sounds a little silly, but we’ve discovered a different sensitivity from our “man” sensitivity. How women work is very different from our sensitivity, including in their relationship to the body: they give each other massages, they have many forms of solidarity, they share things, and at no point are these relations swept away by tensions or rivalries. By the same token, the bodies of the five girls separate from us and from coercive efforts. On a deep level, because we are boys and they are five girls, because girls together are not bound to obey the choreographer, they become autonomous. That’s probably the main difference in this play. This is the story of autonomy and a fight against enslavement in spite of a physical and cultural domination.

How does this autonomy, this fight play out?
MT - For me, with the girls, there was something very different from the very beginning. I was always on the outside, as the only man. It was obvious, even though they were listening to what I had to say, that I wasn’t with them in the way I was with the boys. They were different, and it was interesting. Suddenly, I was asking questions differently. Their relations with the framework, i.e. me, are different and you feel the full force of it.

Is that the true meaning of the play?
MT - Yes, this may be the true political sense of the play. The master could physically dominate them but you soon realise that he doesn’t dominate anything, he’s totally useless. With the males, in the end of the play, I was withdrawing from the game. With the female, I get thrown out. Something happens that is much more complex than with the men; they take over the power much more on stage.
JLB - For women, it culturally makes sense that men have the power. They let men believe in their own physical power. By revealing their power play strategies, you open a door. I must say that the way women use their sense of touch, the way they physically relate to each other, is a revelation for me.

Background

---

Distribution & Thanks

Dates

Tuesday 20, Wednesday 21, Thursday 22 at 9pm
Friday 23, Saturday 24 November at 7:30pm

Duration / 1 hour 15 min

Prices

€16 MAX TOMPKINS / BUFFARD NIGHT
€10 / €8/ €6
PASS’ 2 SHOWS €16/ €13
PASS’ 3 SHOWS €21 / €15

Social Gatherings

Babel: 22 Nov 07 after the performance

---

Links:

www.idamarktompkins.com