During the 2017 Eastman Summer Intensive week, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui gave me the opportunity to develop my ideas and work inside his own studio. It was in that context – and at a turning point in my life - that I decided to create Oh Boy!

Robert Filliou once said, “Art is what makes life more interesting than art.” With that in mind, it seemed obvious to work on solitude for my first solo, for it is a recurring feeling in my life as a travelling dancer going from stage to stage, hotel to hotel, drowned in airport crowds. As a choreographer, I want poetry to come back on stage in any possible way: by practice, observation, solitude, and through language, image, and insurrection. 

Solitude is the ultimate artistic and literary pattern, which peaked during the romantic period, focusing on existential crises, creative energy, and dreams. Solitude, as an essence and not as a feeling, has a lot to do with an artist’s life. Society conditions us to reject solitude.

Oh Boy! is an experience that reminds you of all the times you felt lonely. You will realize that we were not taught just one fear, but many. Most people have never felt lonely enough to fear loneliness, and yet, they fear it. I don’t know if you’ve ever felt lonely; that moment when you suddenly realize that you have no relationship whatsoever with anyone – it’s not an intellectual manifestation, but a fact – and that you’re utterly isolated. Love belongs to that solitude. To be clear, simple, and silent inside, one must have that flame.

Solitude is more than present in my life as a traveling dancer. Indeed, there is a difference between feeling lonely and being alone. To feel lonely is to be afraid of being left alone, without any company or distraction. We must grow apart from ourselves and forget who we are. Solitude, once faced and lived, allows us to reach a state of freedom. 

“There’s a huge difference between loneliness, feeling lonely, knowing you’re lonely, without anyone, and solitude, as a fact. This feeling, it’s you and I. Solitude is me, myself, and I.”

“I was facing my own company.”

REPRESENTATION  « OHBOY!»

18 August 2017 (first showing) at DeSingel, ANTWERP

10 and 11 of November 2017 at Lake Studio, BERLIN

15 of December 2017 at Lake Studio, BERLIN

12th of January 2018 at Point éphémère, PARIS

26th of January 2018 at the Flux Laboratory, GENEVA

16th of June 2018 at Point éphémère, PARIS

9th of September 2018 at Korzo, Den Haag

We are currently in contact with others places and festivals.

We will keep you informed of the progress as the negotiations proceed.