Hushed sensitivity in Slow down, Marie-Christine Vernay, Libération October 2002
Minutiae. After a segment that showcased Scandinavian companies at the Normandy dance marathon last October, Martine Pisani’s most recent work was shown. She developed this piece during her residency in Le Havre and then in Dieppe. It was at the National Theatre of Dieppe that we got to see the work of this overly discreet choreographer. Nothing clutters the stage or interferes between the audience and the performers, not even music. And yet nothing in Slow Down is austere. Rather, what comes across is tenderness and minutiae.
The stage is a play area for six characters – who are not in search of an author. Martine Pisani does not sign her works. She lays things bare: mild unrest, awkward moments, stiffness, the elans that make relationships between individuals come alive. She carefully selects these individuals: actors or dancers. They are talented performers brimming with sensitivity. Dance is not always their career, but whether in a company or in personal work, they constantly seek refinement.
Pranks. Six of them, always onstage, sometimes hidden by a panel. Now and then they pull pranks. They make it seem as if they’re improvising, that they don’t know what they’re supposed to do. They are out of joint, never quite at ease.
Other worlds come to mind: Charlie Chaplin’s, George Appaix’s, or Jaques Tati’s. There is a great deal of humor but this isn’t a farce. While the show still hasn’t entirely found its own rhythm – since the truly comical must be free of snags – it nevertheless wins over the audience without being intrusive. Not intrusive enough.
A balanced salute, karaoke, lots of looking about, suspended moments, hesitations, mute declarations into the mike... : whatever this team does is hushed. Although they work together as a group, they each carve out their own space.
Deaf ears. The show pamphlet begins with a quotation by Gilles Clément: "The gap comes from feeling that you perfectly understand while you haven’t really understood it all." This is exactly what happens onstage as well as between the stage and the audience. Slow Down lives up to its title. It gives a second chance to deaf ears, to the dim-eyed, and to all those who have adaptability problems.