«Jour Blanc» – Cie Sam-Hester at Dança em Trânsito Festival [BR]

Choreographer Perrine Valli [CH/FR] found in the skies a metaphor to discuss how children’s imagination and relationships have been reshaped by technology. In «Cloud», which she premiered in 2019 with her Cie Sam-Hester, the artist combines poetry and the frenetic speed of information in today’s digital world.

Now adapted into a new, “light” version, entitled «Jour Blanc» (white day), it will be presented at Dança em Trânsito Festival [BR], with performances in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Perrine works with a group of local children and professional dancers in a choreography controlled remotely. The cast is equipped with helmets and headphones, through which information is transmitted in real time. By listening to the instructions, the young performers execute movements that resemble daily gestures, some reminiscent of the use of technological gadgets.

In this hyperconnected environment, their bodies dance in unison, as if still finding their reality in this world. The lights from their helmets create a constellation on stage, and the choreography explores the duality of looking down (like when one uses a mobile phone) and looking up (to the clouds), mixing reverie and reflections on these hasty times, driven by consumption.

The performances of «Jour Blanc» at Dança em Trânsito are scheduled for July 31st, 2022, at Teatro Sérgio Cardoso (São Paulo), and August 6th at Teatro Prudential (Rio de Janeiro).

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Perrine Valli [CH/FR] is a dancer and choreographer. At age 25, she set up her own dance company, Association Sam-Hester, which borrows its name from Andy Warhol’s cats, whom he called “Sam” for the males and “Hester” for the females. Perrine has since produced some twenty dance pieces. Resident artist at Mains d’Oeuvres for four years, she won first prize at the International Choreography Contest MASDANZA in 2007 and second prize at the Premio Swiss competition in 2008. The issue of sexual identity holds a central place in her research, as does the articulation of the relationship between narration and abstraction in her choreographic work.