Quartet

For this new piece, Alban Richard turns his atten­tion to the quar­tet for­mula, the addi­tion of four soloists whose scores coex­ist. This autonomy and jux­ta­pos­i­tion are also those of the DJ at his turntables, com­bin­ing music that was not inten­ded to coex­ist. In a cre­ation irrig­ated by the velo­city and dynam­ism of DJing, Alban Richard works on remix­ing ges­tures and move­ments: tak­ing up, quot­ing, past­ing, divert­ing, accel­er­at­ing, slow­ing down, repeat­ing, deform­ing into scratches, syn­co­pat­ing into micro-cuts. These are tools that the cho­reo­graph­er will apply to the per­formers’ bod­ies and voices, asso­ci­at­ing them with an aes­thet­ic of stut­ter­ing and focus­ing not on phras­ing but on the loop or micro-loop. At stake is the notion of a highly inhab­ited body, tra­versed by con­trary states, like those of people under the influ­ence of drugs inter­viewed by Amer­ic­an pho­to­graph­er Mark Laita. With Quar­tet, Alban Richard sees his cho­reo­graph­ic com­pos­i­tion as cine­mat­ic mont­age, guided by sequen­cing tech­niques and attent­ive to ques­tions of tem­por­al sequences and breaks. A work set in an indis­tinct but troubled time, where the sceno­graphy is inspired by the stage dir­ec­tions of Hein­er Müller’s Quar­tett (1980): “A salon from before the French Revolu­tion. A bunker after the Third World War”.

Concept, choreography, and composition Alban Richard
Choreographic assistant Daphné Mauger
Music Simo Cell
Sound design Vanessa Court
Created and performed in collaboration with Chihiro Araki, Anthony Barreri, Zoé Lecorgne, and Aure Wachter
Lighting design and stage management Nicolas Bordes
Costumes Fanny Brouste
Vocal and English coach Deborah Lennie
Director of production Mathieu Hilléreau – Les Indépendances

Duration 1 hour

Premiere December 9, 2025 at the Théâtre des Cordes, Comédie de Caen – CDN Normandie
Executive production: OASES
Production: centre chorégraphique national de Caen en Normandie
Co-production: La Cité musicale-Metz

OASES is supported by the French Ministry of Culture – Direction générale de la création artistique

Contact: Mathieu Hilléreau
mathieu@lesindependances.com

© Agathe Poupenay