In the play by the Franco-Austrian artist Gisèle Vienne, 15 young people experience an emotional roller
coaster during a techno party. Guided by a musical selection that brings together renowned artists in the
history of dance music, such as DJ Rolando, Global Communication and Jeff Mills, the dancers
experience intense situations and reach altered states of their senses. They do it by shaping the speed
of their bodies’ movements at predominantly collective moments, without ignoring the individual
narratives through which each one of them endures on that night. Vienne, whose work examines the
relationship between the artistic and the religious – coming up against complex issues of human
behavior, such as eroticism and violence -, creates a game of rhythms that provokes the impression of
time distortion, referring to a hallucinogenic and hypnotic sensation.

Gisèle Vienne is a Franco-Austrian artist, choreographer and director. After graduating in Philosophy, she studied at the puppeteering school École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette. She works regularly with writer Dennis Cooper, musicians Peter Rehberg and Stephen O’Malley and light designer Patrick Riou, among other artists. Her works move between languages (performing arts, fine arts, cinema) to dissect human relations, the artistic and the religious. Vienne directed and choreographed various works with the collaboration of Dennis Cooper, including I Apologize (2004), Kindertotenlieder (2007), Jerk (2008), This Is How You Will Disappear (2010), The Pyre (2013), The Ventriloquists Convention (2015) e Crowd (2017). She also regularly exhibits her photographs and installations.

CRITICS

With its roots in Vienne’s experiences in 1990s Berlin clubland, and a pounding techno score from artists such as Jeff Mills, Global Communication and Underground Resistance, it feels both like a particularly wild party and a triptych on the theme of heaven and hell by a painter such as Bosch. The setting also makes it bear a resemblance to Pina Bausch’s Rite of Spring.

SARAH CROMPTON, The Guardian

Crowd, by Gisèle Vienne, brings together fifteen soloists for an interior and hedonistic journey. The set, a simple stage covered with dirt and composting garbage, could represent an end of night here or anywhere else. One by one, almost backing up, the performers will inhabit this space, cut out by the glorious light of Patrick Riou. The choreographer and set designer captures these flashes of the night, limbs shaken by convulsions, fleeting kisses, hand games on the verge of losing control (…) The detail with which Gisèle Vienne apprehends this group also brings up a question: are we facing an “After Party” or a contemporary show? A few effects of rare beauty are enough – a can that “explodes”, smoke surrounding the coats – to be sure. Crowd is a true creation.

PHILIPPE NOISETTE, Les Échos

TECHNICAL SHEET

CONCEPTION, CHOREOGRAPHY AND SCENOGRAPHY: Gisèle Vienne
ASSISTED BY: Anja Röttgerkamp and Nuria Guiu Sagarra
LIGHTS: Patrick Riou
DRAMATURGY: Gisèle Vienne and Denis Cooper
MUSIC SELECTIONS FROM: Underground Resistance, KTL, Vapor Space, DJ Rolando, Drexciya, The Martian, Choice, Jeff Mills, Peter Rehberg, Manuel Göttsching, Sun Electric and Global Communication
EDITS, PLAYLIST SELECTION: Peter Rehberg
SOUND DIFFUSION SUPERVISOR: Stephen O’Malley
PERFORMERS: Lucas Bassereau, Philip Berlin, Marine Chesnais, Sylvain Decloitre, Sophie Demeyer, Vincent Dupuy, Massimo Fusco, Rehin Hollant, Georges Labbat, Theo Livesey, Katia Petrowick, Linn Ragnarsson, Jonathan Schatz, Henrietta Wallberg and Tyra Wigg
COSTUMES: Gisèle Vienne in collaboration with Camille Queval and the performers
SOUND ENGINEER: Mareike Trillhaas
TECHNICAL MANAGER: Richard Pierre
STAGE MANAGER: Antoine Hordé
LIGHT MANAGER: Arnaud Lavisse
SPECIAL THANKS: Louise Bentkowski, Dominique Brun, Patric Chiha, Zac Farley, Uta Gebert, Margret Sara Guðjónsdóttir, Isabelle Piechaczyk, Arco Renz, Jean-Paul Vienne and Dorothéa Vienne-Pollak
PRODUCTION & BOOKING: Alma Office, Anne-Lise Gobin, Alix Sarrade, Camille Queval & Andrea Kerr
ADMINISTRATION: Etienne Hunsinger & Giovanna Rua
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: DACM
COPRODUCERS: Nanterre-Amandiers, Centre Dramatique National / Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg – Scène Européenne / Wiener Festwochen / Manège, Scène Nationale – Reims / Théâtre National de Bretagne / Centre Dramatique National Orléans / Loiret / Centre / La Filature, Scène Nationale – Mulhouse / BIT Teatergarasjen, Bergen.
SUPPORT: CCN2 – Centre Chorégraphique National de Grenoble / CND Centre National de la Danse
DEDICATED TO: Kerstin

The Company Gisèle Vienne is supported by Ministère de la culture et de la communication – DRAC Grand Est, la Région Grand Est and Ville de Strasbourg. The company is supported by Institut Français for international touring. Gisèle Vienne is associate artist at the Nanterre-Amandiers, centre dramatique national and at the Théâtre National de Bretagne, Direction Arthur Nauzyciel.

PHOTOS