The desire to create the solo JUMENT was born from the meeting of several events. First of all, there are the archives of dance history kept in my office: articles and photographs of the cabaret number Le Cheval composed in Paris during the Second World War by a German modern dancer exiled from the Nazi regime, Julia Marcus. There are also new connections: for a few years I have been going to work on farms in Galicia (Spain) and as it is a region where horses live in the wild, free in the mountains, I had the opportunity to meet some of them and to record their steps, their movements and their many voices. Then, I wanted to question our relationship to this animal through its history, its legends and its social-political roles.

This solo is a spoken, danced and rhythmic form. I tell stories, with few resources, reminiscent of a political cabaret act. I show images and tap a hoof rhythm on a Galician percussion instrument placed around my neck. I try to move like a horse and a choir of horses of different ages can be heard. I play with the aesthetics of montage and try to mix registers, animal archaeology meets the fantastic and the crossing between the dance archive and mythology brings out a hybrid body that tries to get out of its shell.

Choreographer and performer - Marion Sage
Sound creator - Anne Lepère
Production - Entropie Production
Supported by an experimentation grant from Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles
Partners & residencies Belgium’s LIBITUM, CN D Lyon, Charleroi Danse