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Why do some people put their bodies through extreme acts? Why cross the Seine on a wire or climb a mountain during a thunderstorm? The reasons are probably the opposite of what you imagine: Peace. Calm. Serenity.<\/p>\n
In his evening-length \u201cCorps Extr\u00eames,\u201d the choreographer Rachid Ouramdane works with acrobats, a climber and a modern tightrope walker, or highliner, to explore what lies behind the quest for thrills in such activities \u2014 and the on-the-spot mental clarity that comes with it.<\/p>\n
When the body is pushed to its limits, when fear really sinks in, you must deal with every part of yourself, including \u201cyour vulnerability, your fragility,\u201d Ouramdane said in a video interview from France. \u201cThe notion of risk is always present. But it\u2019s not a risk that you don\u2019t consider. It\u2019s almost the opposite, a risk that becomes your partner; a risk that you are used to dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Risk, in essence, becomes an accomplice, creating a hyper alertness or sensitivity to the present moment. As the highliner Nathan Paulin<\/a> says in a voice-over in the production, \u201cTo keep my balance on this thin moving wire, I need to be 100 percent focused on everything that happens, on my body and everything around me, so I feel everything more intensely.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For all of its action, a meditative quality runs through \u201cCorps Extr\u00eames,\u201d a melding of performance and spoken word that opens at the Brooklyn Academy of Music<\/a> on Oct. 27 as part of Dance Reflections, a festival sponsored by Van Cleef & Arpels.<\/p>\n During the production, performed by Compagnie de Chaillot, a film of mountainous landscapes, shot from many daunting angles, is projected on the back of the stage, which is also a white climbing wall. In the film, we see the climber Nina Caprez and Paulin, who holds his balance in the wind while on a highline between cliffs; both are rendered diminutive against the natural world.<\/p>\n Performing live, Paulin \u2014 a world-record-holding highliner \u2014 crosses the stage on a wire as the eight acrobats balance on one another\u2019s shoulders and scramble up the climbing wall. Essentially, they stretch the stage from horizontal to vertical as a dreamy guitar score by Jean-Baptiste Julien plays; we also hear spoken testimonies by Paulin and Caprez about the freedom they find in exposing their bodies to nature. Watching it all unfold is almost like floating.<\/p>\n Ouramdane, a French-Algerian choreographer who, in 2021, became the director of the Chaillot-Th\u00e9\u00e2tre National de la Danse in Paris<\/a>, has created something not only to watch, but also to feel. This is a choreography, not just of bodies, but of awareness. \u201cWhen you see the show,\u201d he said, \u201cit\u2019s super soft.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For New Yorkers, it is a chance to see a different kind of work from Ouramdane, whose American debut, in 2006, was the masterly \u201cLes Morts Pudiques\u201d (\u201cDiscreet Deaths\u201d),<\/a> a solo exploring the death fixation among young people. Ouramdane often focuses on vulnerable populations, exploring the way identity affects people using a combination of movement and text, which is generated from interviews he conducts. He creates portraits that consider both the physicality of his subjects and what\u2019s going on in their minds \u2014 work that he continues with the cast of \u201cCorps Extr\u00eames.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cYou realize that they are not supermen or superwomen,\u201d Ouramdane said, speaking of participants in extreme sports. \u201cThey are just very confident with their fragility, with their vulnerability. And that\u2019s what allows them to do those totally unexpected things\u201d; for them fragility can \u201cbe a strength.\u201d<\/p>\n Ouramdane first started thinking about extreme sports and outdoor activities after being approached by the French acrobatic collective Compagnie XY to make a work. Compagnie XY knew that Ouramdane had experience working with a diverse range of bodies \u2014 older people, athletes, children. And Ouramdane knew that the acrobats\u2019 practice was virtuosic.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat really touched me was not so much the crazy things they were doing in the air, but the special attention they have to each other,\u201d Ouramdane said. \u201cHow they have to take care of each other and the softness of their touch, the knowledge of how to receive a body, how to support a body, and the ways they watch each other. I wanted to zoom in on this sensibility.\u201d<\/p>\n