photo by Fred Kihn
Boris Charmatz
Born in Chambéry (France), January 3rd, 1973.
After training at the Opéra de Paris ballet school and then at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse (prestigious state-run music and dance college) in Lyon, Boris Charmatz was hired by Régine Chopinot for Ana (1990) and Saint-Georges (1991). Odile Duboc asked him to join her company Contrejour for 7 jours/7 villes (Seven days, seven towns, 1992), Projet de la Matière (Project in Matter, 1993), Trois Boléros (Three Boleros, 1996). In 1993, he also participated in the creation of K de E by Olivia Grandville and Xavier Marchand.
In 1992, Charmatz founded edna association with Dimitri Chamblas. Together they wrote and interpreted the duo A bras le corps (Take the Whole Body / With the Whole Body, 1993), and then signed Les Disparates (The Disparate, 1994), a two-headed solo for one dancer and a sculpture by Toni Grand. Boris Charmatz then presented Aatt enen tionon (1996), a vertical piece for three dancers, followed by herses - une lente introduction [harrows (a slow introduction), 1997], a piece for five dancers and a cellist, to music by Helmut Lachenmann. In 1999, he choreographed Con forts fleuve (Com Fort River / Strong Pussy River), a creation for seven dancers and two extras, to texts by John Giorno and music by Otomo Yoshihide. In 2002, he conceived a choreographic piece borrowing the form of Russian dolls, héâtre-élévision - a show reduced to film size and contained in a television set as part of an installation for one spectator at a time. Four years later he created Quintette Cercle (Quintet Circle), a live version of héâtre-élévision. In 2006, he created the trio régi, for Julia Cima, the iconic German choreographer Raimund Hoghe and himself. His most recent work, La danseuse malade (The sick dancer), a duo with the actress Jeanne Balibar, was created using texts by Tatsumi Hijikata, the founder of butoh dance.
Since 1997, the edna association has simultaneously been developing projects whose raison d'être is to provide a context where moult artistic experiments can find an outline. These projects aim to find work modes and means of presentation which would restore critical potential, richness and suppleness to dance performance, and to dance itself.
This enlarged conception of dance motivated the edna team to engage in several other types of action: thematic sessions (on light and visual arts), film production, and atypical forms such as Dance, Cooking and Cinema by Myriam Lebreton, Combination-s and La chaise (The Chair) by Julia Cima, Horace Benedict by Dimitri Chamblas and Aldo Lee, Jachères (Fallow Grounds) by Vincent Dupont... There have also been visual art creations: the installation Programme court avec essorage (Short cycle with spin-dry) by Gilles Touyard, and the exhibitions Complexe and Statuts (Statutes). Moreover, edna set up forums for thought, criticism, or simply as meeting-places: Ouvrée, artistes en alpages (Crafted: Artists in Alpine Pastures), and Entraînements - a series of artistic actions. Edna also developed hybrid forms with a many-sided approach to dance and the body: Faculties, Education, and L'invention du geste (The Invention of Movement).
From 2002 to 2004, Charmatz was in creator's residence in the Centre national de la danse. The residency also involved research, and Charmatz developed the Bocal or Glass Jar project, which was a temporary and nomadic school - or more exactly, a research group motivated by the idea of school. Bocal brought together about fifteen students from different horizons, from July 2003 to July 2004. Guest teacher at the Universität der Künste (Berlin), he also took part in the elaboration of a new dancing class which was inaugurated in 2007.
In 2003, he co-wrote with Isabelle Launay: Entretenir/About a contemporary dance (co-edition Centre national de la danse/ Les Presses du Réel). His new book Je suis une école (I am a school) will be published this year.
Boris Charmatz participates in improvisation events on a regular basis (notably with Saul Williams, Archie Shepp, Han Bennink, Médéric Collignon...) and continues working as an interpreter with Odile Duboc, Fanny de Chaillé and, more recently, Pierre Alféri and Meg Stuart.
He has created a series of works which are already seen as significant and important, and the projects produced by the edna association have been performed for national, European and international audiences, averaging about 60 performances a year, of which 20 are performed on tour.
Boris Charmatz succeeded choreographer Catherine Diverrès as director of the Rennes and Britanny National Choreographic Centre (CCNRB) on January 1st, 2009.
