How to dance in a library? In a lobby? How to dance in a public space, a reading room, a walkway, without losing oneself in it? How to make the dancing body visible among other bodies in transit? The Dancing Museum has chosen to foster teaching and dissemination by way of a panorama of twentieth-century dance. Performers with diverse backgrounds and from different generations take over the hallways, rooms, and stairways of institutions of learning, appropriating and exhibiting some of the landmark solos of the twentieth century.
As they stroll around, the audience may come across these strange visitors in motion dispersed around the building: they might discover a Merce Cunningham solo or a dance by Isadora Duncan, allowing everyone to build, each in his own way, a living, non-linear archive of dance in which they may forget themselves, pause, wander from echo to echo, from gesture to gesture…
In 2020, for the purposes of the Théâtre du Châtelet edition, Boris Charmatz seeks to go beyond the limits of the 20th century in order to burst in upon our present, and to add a chapter to this history in the making : 20 Dancers for the XX Century and even more...
Since 2012, 20 Dancers for the XX Century has been presented in
- Les Champs Libres, Rennes, France
- MoMA Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
- Foreign Affairs, Berlin, Germany
- Tate Modern, London, UK
- Opéra national de Paris / Palais Garnier, France
- Tanzkongress / Staatsoper Hannover, Germany
- Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
- MAC VAL, Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne as part of the 19th Biennale de danse du Val-de-Marne de la Briqueterie, Vitry-sur-Seine, France
- Théâtre de Lorient, Centre dramatique national / Base de Sous-Marins, Block K3, Lorient, France
- Le Quartz, Scène national de Brest, Brest, France
- MACBA in collaboration with Mercat de les Flors, Barcelona, Spain
- IVAM Institut Valencia de Art Modern, Valencia, Spain
- Mucem & Festival de Marseille, Marseille, France
- terrain Boris Charmatz. Un essai à ciel ouvert. Ein Tanzgrund für Zürich - Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zurich, Switzerland
- Théâtre du Châtelet as part of Festival d’Automne à Paris, France
- Triennale Milan with la Fondation Cartier, Milano, Italie
- Opéra de Lille, France
- Bozar, Brussels, Belgium
- Centre Pompidou Metz, France
- Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, Italy
Latest editions :
14 December 2022 - Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, Italy - extracts
Boglárka Börcsök, Néstor García Díaz, Fabrice Mazliah, Benjamin Pech, Julie Anne Stanzak
7 & 8 May 2022 - Centre Pompidou-Metz, France
Laura Bachman, Bòglarka Börcsök, Magali Caillet Gajan, Olga Dukhovna, João Fiadeiro, Bryana Fritz, Néstor García Diaz, Mai Ishiwata, Dai Jian, I-Fang Lin, Filipe Lourenço, Alex Mugler, Allister Madin, Fabrice Mazliah, Julien Monty, Katia Petrowick, Soa Ratsifandrihana, Marlène Saldana, Julie Shanahan, Frank Willens
23 & 24 April 2022 - Bozar, Brussels, Belgium
Laura Bachman, Boglárka Börcsök, Magali Caillet Gajan, Marco D’Agostin, Olga Dukhovna, Bryana Fritz, Letizia Galloni, Néstor García Díaz, Alain Irie aka Alaingo, Mai Ishiwata, Dai Jian, Samuel Lefeuvre, Filipe Lourenço, Fabrice Mazliah, Julien Monty, Benjamin Pech, Soa Ratsifandrihana, Marlène Saldana, Julie Shanahan, Frank Willens
6 & 7 November 2021 - Opéra de Lille, France
Avec Laura Bachman, Florian Caron, Ashley Chen, Ruth Childs, Marco d’Agostin, Raphaëlle Delaunay, Olga Dukhovna, Néstor Garcia Diaz, Sylvain Groud, Mai Ishiwata, Johanna Elisa Lemke, I-Fang Lin, Filipe Lourenço, Mackenzy, Ioannis Mandafounis, Julien Monty, Sonja Pregrad, Manon Santkin, Javier Vaquero Ollero, Frank Willens
10 September 2021 - Triennale Milano with Fondation Cartier, Italie
Djino Alolo Sabin, Boglárka Börcsök, Ashley Chen, Marco D’Agostin, Raphaëlle Delaunay, Olga Dukovna, Jacquelyn Elder, Bryana Fritz, Manon Santkin, Johanna Elisa Lemke, Filipe Lourenço, Fabrice Mazliah, Julien Monty, Benjamin Pech, Soa Ratsifandrihana, Marlène Saldana, Cristina Saso, Asha Thomas, Claudia Triozzi, Frank Willens
Running time: 3h to 5h approx.
A group of dancers and perfomers is set up at each new version of the project.
Since 2012, the following dancers have taken part in the project :
Germaine Acogny, Mithkal Alzghair, Anémone Arnaud, Pascal Aubin, Laura Bachman, Caroline Bance, Fabian Barba, Eleanor Bauer, Nadia Beugré, Nuno Bizarro, Boglárka Börcsök, Marie-Solène Boulet, Magali Caillet-Gajan, Varinia Canto Vila, Alessio Carbone, Alexandra Cardinale, Florian Caron, François Chaignaud, Dimitri Chamblas, Boris Charmatz, Jean-Baptiste Chavignier, Ruth Childs, Julia Cogan, Pat Catterson, Ashley Chen, Julia Cogan, Julie Cunningham, Sonia Darbois, Raphaëlle Delaunay, Sara De Roo, Noëmie Djiniadhis, Matthieu Doze, Olga Dukhovna, Colin Dunne, Jacquelyn Elder, Tim Etchells, Eduardo Ricardo Fernandes aka Dominant Nemak, João Fiadeiro,Jim Fletcher, Antonia Franceschi, Bryana Fritz, Grégory Gaillard, Letizia Galloni, Nestor Garcia Diaz, Marion Gautier de Charnacé, Françoise Gazio, Yves-Noël Genod, Brennan Gerard, Juliette Gernez, Marie Goudot, Olivia Grandville, Peggy Grelat-Dupont, Sylvain Groud, Dmitry Gutov, Christophe Haleb, Trajal Harrell, , Reinhild Hoffmann, Emmanuelle Huynh, Mette Ingvartsen, Alain Irie aka Alaingo, Mai Ishiwata, Janez Janša, Dai Jian, Burr Johnson, Tatiana Julien, Lénio Kaklea, Myriam Kamionka, Latifa Laâbissi, Laurence Laffon, La Ribot, I-Fang Lin, Matej Keižar, Benoît Lachambre, Samuel Lefeuvre, Johanna Elisa Lemke, Catherine Legrand, , I-Fang Lin, Kiko Lòpez Juan, Mark Lorimer, Filipe Lourenço, Morgan Lugo, Mackenzy, Allister Madin, Ioannis Mandafounis, Vera Mantero, Jérôme Marin, Julie Martel, Fabrice Mazliah, Mathilde Monnier, Bernardo Montet, Julien Monty, Richard Move, Mani A. Mungai, Alex Mugler, Samuel Murez, Ko Murobushi, Lasseindra Ninja, Banu Ogan, Caroline Osmont, Chrysa Parkinson, Sofia Parcen, Benjamin Pech, Olga Pericet, Katia Petrowick, Sonja Pregrad, Leiomy Prodigy, Annabelle Pulcini, Soa Ratsifandrihana, Fabrice Ramalingom, Pierre Rétif, Christopher Roman, Stéphanie Romberg, Djino Alolo Sabin, Yann Saïz, Marlène Saldana, Sònia Sánchez, Salia Sanou, Manon Santkin, Cristina Saso, Elisabeth Schwartz, Frédéric Seguette, Karine Seneca, Shelley Senter, Valda Setterfield, Julie Shanahan, Yasutake Shimaji, Big Shush, Thomas Simon, Gus Solomons, John Sorensen-Jolink, Julie Anne Stanzak, Meg Stuart, Asha Thomas, Mark Tompkins, Claudia Triozzi, Roberte Tual (dont la danse a été transmise par Brigitte Chataignier), Le Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Rennes (avec les enseignants Sylvain Richard, Florence Tissier et les élèves Arthur Debroise, Lucie Delachaume, Romane Morvan-Lemaire, Fanny Paris, Ariane Tissier), Francesco Vantaggio, Javier Vaquero Ollero, Hugo Vigliotti, Sven Walser, Julian Weber, Adam Weinert, Frank Willens, Thomas Wodianka
Production and distribution: Terrain
A production from Musée de la danse / Centre chorégraphique national de Rennes et de Bretagne
20 Dancers for the XX Century premiered at Champs Libres in Rennes, France on November 4, 2012
Cover picture: © Nyima Leray / Fabián Barba in 20 danseurs pour le XXe siècle - Les Champs libres, Rennes
Du 25 au 27 avril 2025 – Opernhaus Wuppertal in Wuppertal (Germany)