“Keep your passion warm”
Antonin Rioche is an amazing dancer who worked with choreographers such as Olivier Dubois and Sacha Waltz, Wayne McGregor, Marina Mascarell, and at Korzo with Ryan Djojokarso. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui invited him to create his first solo Oh Boy! For the Eastman Summer Intensive in 2017. He is the new house choreographer at Korzo Theater where he has created the choreographic works.
-What is the key to all your successes?
"I believe that the key so far has been constantly working and being curious about new ways of moving and expressing myself. To never give up if I trust an idea, and make it happen. And also I have a very supportive mom!"
-How were you able to develop your artistry during your studies?
"Honestly, my artistic development was a bit compromised in dance school: most of the time, they ask you to be all similar. But because I felt this lack of personal artistic development, I think it pushed me to develop it on my own by being curious, a thirst for learning about the past and present of dance, and also other arts as cinema, photography, music, and fashion."
-You worked with really great choreographers (Sacha Waltz, Wayne McGregor, Oliver Dubois, Marina Mascarell...). What did you learn from them?
"Each of the choreographers with whom I worked or met during my career taught me different things about dance and about their own way of viewing (or seeing) humanity and translating this into dance and theatre; I felt very lucky to work with such different companies and people. It enriched me a lot!"
-What is the role of dance in society?
"Dance can educate on new perceptions, but also develops a way of expression and communication. Sometimes it’s even creating the opportunities to reflect on many different subjects about life and society. In the last couple of years, I realized that the role and place of dance in society and in life seem very different for each one of us. For me, it’s really important but I cannot expect the same passion from everyone."
-How can you define technique in dance?
"The technique in dance is the base of the vocabulary for me. Like with the language you have the alphabet to write words and create phrases."
-How important is improvisation in dance?
"For me, improvisation is the essence of dance. Like the voice of dance, different to each one of us. Unique, personal, and intimate sometimes."
-You are an amazing choreographer. How can you define your work?
"In my work, I am interested in the notion of times and I have certain interests in beauty in every kind of way. Often my work looks like a tale for adults."
-What are the difficulties and beautiful aspects of being a choreographer?
"The beauty of being a choreographer is when you meet new dancers that trust you and go with you. It’s such an incredible feeling to meet dancers like that.
At the moment, I am more focused on the difficulties than about the rest, to be honest. It’s very very hard to find your place as a maker and having your own voice.
I am supported by Korzo, for me, Korzo is like a home base for me during the upcoming 4 years and they support me in my search for this.
But even, I am actually struggling a lot to find my first commissioned works or to meet new producers and people that believe in me and my work. Today there are so many choreographers out there, you can very quickly feel lonely face to this big network. I feel that already I am watching the world of dance with such different eyes that when I was a dancer. It’s extremely different, even wilder."
-What catches your attention in another dancer?
"The capacity to stay human while dancing, and being present. I like dance who tell stories with their bodies;"
-What interests you about choreographing?
"I like to create and imagine the universe and stories that I articulate together. And I am very much in love with dance."
-What makes a dance piece valuable?
"The humanity in it, even with an extremely technical piece!"
-How important is it to connect to people through dance?
"I don’t know if it’s important but it’s beautiful when it's happened!"
-You are also fascinated by the cinema and you made some wonderful dance videos. What do you like about filming dance?
"I see the cinema as another format to express myself and to create different shapes, perceptions, motion, and emotions. We watch dance and a movie in a very different way I think. I like to think about that when I am creating. It’s also a nice way to share my work abroad at the moment with Corona."
-How different is to film dance compared to perform it instead?
"The shoot of a dance film is often a very cold moment ... for many different (technical) reasons. And performing on stage for a live audience feels always much warmer!"
-How important is to connect different arts (visual art, cinema, dance...)?
"I believe a nice way to push the borders of the creations further, and collaborate with new people, and share knowledge between these different forms of arts. I am very interested in the explorations and collaborations in art, the hybrid side of the arts, mixing dance, film, music/sound-design, visual arts, etc.."
-Can you give some advice to young dancers?
"I remember someone told me one day, that I should believe in myself and if I don’t, then nobody will… it was hard to hear but that was true! Something happened to me the day I decided to believe in myself. It’s a hard job, so you need to be really passionate about it and about dance. In other cases, there is really no reason to do this job. You have to learn to keep your passion warm, and never forget why you started. The feeling when there is music and your body just starts to dance. Reminding yourself that before the hard work dance was about pleasure."
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