ROMAIN GUION
The One and Many
At the root of this workshop lies a fundamental question. Which is more essential to humanity: the individual or the collective? Is it a fallacy to believe that one is superior to the other?
Does collectivism crush the soul of individuals and undermine creativity and initiative? Or is the tendency towards union innate? Can we be autonomous individuals and a part of a greater whole at the same time? Does the individual lose her/his identity in union or does one become more true to oneself by contributing to a greater whole? Do individual personalities blossom in communal life and how can we balance the competing demands for caring for ourselves and serving the community?
In the course of four days and through a free-form guided improvisational tasks based on the modus operandi of Les Ballets C de la B, the participants are invited to delve deeper into these questions. Together we reflect on notions such as symbiosis, reciprocity, altruism and antagonism. Comprising playful tasks dealing with social order, power games, teamwork, consensus, cooperation and conflicts, The One and Many is envisioned as a creative playground for reciprocal exchange of thoughts, an exploratory territory that spotlights on how we behave, relate or thrive within a group. Moreover, it encourages movers of all types to experiment, question, dare and most importantly, to dance.
“Nothing is precious except that part of you which is in other people, and that part of others which is in you. Up there, on high, everything is one.” — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Romain Guion is a dancer, performance maker, choreographic assistant, pedagogue and festival organiser with a 20 year career in dance, theatre and performance field. He trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris before joining various renowned international dance companies such as Charleroi-Danses, National Dance Company Wales, Dance Theatre of Ireland, John Scott’s Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Gelabert-Azzopardi Companya de Dansa, Eun Me Ahn Dance Company, PVC-Stadttheater Freiburg, Staatstheater Mainz, Constanza Macras-Dorky Park and Les Ballets C de la B-Alain Platel (nicht schlafen, C(h)oeurs). Alongside his performance career, Romain has assisted in the production of several creations in dance, music, theatre and opera (Coup Fatal by Alain Platel; Sehnsucht, limited edition and Dancing Bach by Koen Augustijnen, Tout ce qui reste and La timidité des arbres by theatre director Juliette Navis, Bienvenue by Eugénie Rebetez and Orpheus by the freie oper zürich). In the summer of 2018, Romain took part at the Venice Biennale performing the solo Animale choreographed for him by Francesca Foscarini. Since 2000 Romain has also been interested in transmitting his knowledge of contemporary dance and choreography by leading dance trainings techniques and movement research workshops all around the world. In his own creative pursuit, Romain is interested in redefining dance conventions and in reconciling movers with their authentic physicality and humaneness. Eager to support emerging artists and to foster creation, Romain is on the board of directors and curator of the Berlin based festival LUCKY TRIMMER, a non-for-profit association dedicated to the short performance format. Within LUCKY TRIMMER, Romain also introduced the LUCKY CHANGEMAKER initiative that supports socially engaged artistic project, developed a workshop program under the motto “Dance is for everyone” and established a co-production network with several international organisations in Cyprus, Israel, Hungary and Italy.