Marie Gourdain: Unknown coefficient

The moment when everything comes crashing down on us.

Unknown Coefficient is a contemporary dance piece for five performing bodies that deconstructs a moment of shock to unfold it in time, replay it over and over, turn it around from all angles, and reveal its complexity, beauty, and horror. It is a moment when opposing forces merge into one: power with fear, control with hesitation, perseverance with resignation, rebellion with self-reflection. One movement propels forward, the other freezes. A dance of contrasts emerges between jerk and flow, aesthetics and emotion.

After years of working in the Czech Republic, French choreographer Marie Gourdain returns with her new work - The Unknown Coefficient will be presented to the Czech audience for the first time since her return to France, immediately after the world premiere in Leipzig, Germany.

In her new work, she is interested in the coexistence of opposites. The moment of rupture when reason ceases to exist. Absurdity. Her initial inspiration was the painting Sabine by Jacques-Louis David, which captures the moment just before a clash – a frozen moment full of tension, in which all the forces preparing to collide are present.

Likewise, the choreography juxtaposes different materials: violence with gentleness, blindness with a gesture of rebellion. On the one hand, work with attitude and gesture with an emphasis on form, on the other, expressive and sensual physicality, connected to emotions, fluid and dynamic.

Choreography: Marie Gourdain

Interpretation: Naïs Arlaud, Nicolas Garsault, Guillaume Ippolito, Alice Lambert, Fanny Pouillot

External view: Jean-Christophe Paré

Scenography: Mathis Bahut-Brunet

Sound design: Thibault Cohade

Lighting design: Zuzana Režná

Costumes: Françoise Léger

Distribution Manager: Nikola Križková

Production management and administration: STP Production Office

Production: Matière Mobile in co-production with tYhle (CZ)

Other co-producers: CND Lyon – within the framework of Aide à l'expérimentation and Artiste en création ; La Maison de la Danse – within the framework of the Transformations #1 and #2 programs; LOFFT – DAS THEATER (DE) with the support of the City of Leipzig – Department of Culture.

Hosting residencies and support: Trois CL (LUX); Les Nouvelles Subsistances – as part of an off-site residency with MECS d'Oullins (FR); Schloss Bröllin Cultural Center (DE); Auditorium Sophie Dessus – Uzerche (FR)

Financial support: City of Lyon; DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – Support for creation; Region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – Support for creation; Cléo Thiberge Edrom Foundation; Spedidam – as part of support for salaries, soundtrack and international trips; State Fund for Culture of the Czech Republic; Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic; City of Prague

A big thank you to: Olivier and Brigitte Thiberge, Julia Gourdain, Lucie Kašiarová and Studio Tanca, Rémi Lambert, Christophe Liabeuf, Sarah, Aziliz and Laura!

The performance at the Galaxie Cultural Station is held with the support of the French Institute in Prague.