Focus Boris Charmatz / Musée de la danse

When the French choreographer Boris Charmatz was put in charge of the national choreographic centre in Rennes, he turned it into a “Musée de la danse” – a museum of dance. There and elsewhere, he collaborated with philosophers and sociologists in developing choreographies which emphasise the requirements and limits of dance and its relevance to society. Today, Charmatz is an important creative force in the international contemporary dance scene; his main area of artistic interest lies in interdisciplinary forms and formats. At the 2014 edition of Foreign Affairs, an international festival of contemporary performing arts at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, the programme focused on Boris Charmatz’s works situated between the performative and fine arts. Charmatz’s choreographies – from his very first works, which he produced again for the Berlin festival, to his most recent pieces – interconnect dance and museum practice in unconventional ways. He created a scenic exhibition format for Foreign Affairs that aimed to expand choreographic practice, as well as a major, site-specific piece for 20 dancers at the Soviet War Memorial in Berlin. It was the first time audiences had the opportunity to view the work from the Musée de la danse which amply conveys its significance for contemporary performing arts.

Artistic directors: Boris Charmatz, Martina Hochmuth (Musée de la danse), Matthias von Hartz, Carolin Hochleichter (Foreign Affairs)
Artists: Nuno Bizarro, Varinia Canto Vila, Ashley Chen, Raphaëlle Delaunay, Sara De Roo, Olga Dukhovnaya, Peggy Grelat-Dupont, Dmitry Gutov, Reinhild Hoffmann, Janez Janša, Lénio Kaklea, Matej Keižar, Jérôme Marin, Alex Mugler, Mani A. Mungai, Ko Murobushi, Sonja Pregrad, Frédéric Seguette, Sven Walser and Julian Weber.