ENEMY (a peace conference) is the first part of a performance trilogy in relation to the wars in Europe. Having completed an initial long-term work entitled BARBARE on the member countries of the European Union from 2019 to 2022, Zone -poème- took on Europe with a view to creating a work for peace and questioning the figure of the enemy.

Reflecting on the place of peripheries inside Europe, and the possibility to give voice to local communities, this show aims to interrogate the notion of peace in relation to the current and past conflicts of Europe. Mélodie Lasselin and Simon Capelle respond to the theatre of operations of conflicts with an anatomical theatre that attempts to overturn the staggering machine of war images. Driven by extensive fieldwork in the Balkans, meeting those who have been working for thirty years to reestablish the bonds of peace between communities, but also meeting French and Italian soldiers who intervened in the former Yugoslavia, ENEMY (a peace conference) proposes a paradoxical path where the bodies find, through breath and voice, a way to confront the traumas of conflict. For its next and last chapter, ENEMY (iliads) will be focusing on the ecological consequences of war in Europe, a currently developing dance and performance piece on the ontological need for freedom and beauty.

Mélodie Lasselin and Léa Pérat, choreographers and dancers of the performance, conceived a dialogue with local communities through dance, offering a hybrid narrative that mixes tradition with the future, heritage and fiction, advocating diversity as a bridge between peoples. Recently, ENEMY was awarded the Special Jury Award of the 38th FIAT festival – Festival Internacionalnog Alternativnog in Montenegro. This production emerged as part of the Stronger Peripheries – Creative Europe programme following residencies in France and Italy.

Concept: Mélodie Lasselin & Simon Capelle Choreography & Performance: Mélodie Lasselin in collaboration with Léa Pérat Original Music Creation: Restive Plaggona Field Recording: Quentin Conrate Light Design: Caroline Carliez Set & Costume Designer: Emma Depoid Choreographic View: Teresa Acevedo de las Casas Ceramics: Claire Weibel, Juliette Charlot, Noa Michelet, Eve Mercky (ESAD Pyrénées)

Co-production: Occitanie en scène, The Parvis scène nationale Tarbes, Sardegna Teatro, L’Arboreto – Teatro Dimora di Mondaino (Stronger Peripheries program – Creative Europe), Ballet du Nord – CCN Roubaix Partners: La Chambre d’eau

Creative team:

Visual Artist – Giulia Betti

Satellite Events

WORKSHOP

Date and time: Tuesday 7th May, 5pm

Duration: 2hrs

From Conflict to Peacefulness: experimenting the dance duet; in relation to the performance ENEMY – a peace conference. In the history of dance, the duet is a powerful tool to question oneself and the otherness of the other. Following the path taken by Mélodie Lasselin and Léa Pérat in their careers and working together on stage, this workshop will give tools to create, compose and perform with another dancer. The work will focus on the quality of movements, the necessity to breathe, and listening as a tool to go beyond.

Click here to register

PERFORMANCE

Date and time: Saturday 11th May at 7.30pm (Studio A)

Duration: 45mins

The performance will be followed by a POST-SHOW Q&A which include a reflection on Russians and Ukrainians in exile and the current conflict in Europe.

Click here to register