Au galop !

Distribution

Direction: Pierre Guillois

Written by:
Stéphanie Chêne

Performed by:
Stéphanie Chêne

20 years ago, when I was a young dancer, I had a serious accident that nearly cost me my legs.

What occurred was as absurd as it was unbelievable: a horse fell on me and crushed my pelvis. I was bedridden for months, dispossessed of my body and my privacy. This experience had a strong impact on my dancing and the way I relate to the world.

Au Galop! takes you on an intimate journey, inviting you to enter the hospital room and the life of a person whose world is limited to their bed. This monologue reveals how significantly social codes governing communication, seduction, and power structures can be reinvented even within the constrained and regulated environment of a hospital.

Au Galop! is an ode to our survival instinct and is structured around 20 independent segments that interweave internal monologues, dialogues, exclamations, and narrations in order to present multiple points of view. This fragmented presentation follows a broken time-line that stretches from accident to recovery, providing a sensitive look at a life taking place on the margins of society.

After having collaborated with director Pierre Guillois on Nouara Naghouche’s solo performance Sacrifices and then on Le Chant des soupirs, Annie Ebrel’s intimate musical journal, I became fascinated by the idea of autobiographical performance. This is why, when I decided to develop my story, I chose to do it with Pierre.

My background in the performing arts is most likely the reason why I wanted to take a multidisciplinary approach to Au Galop! and why I absolutely wanted to work with both a visual and a sound artist. Laurent Pernot created Still Life, a series in which everyday objects and taxidermied animals are frozen in ice. In this work, I saw a reflection of my own experience as a woman frozen and awaiting the thaw.

As a dancer, I have a physical relationship to and a deep passion for music. Jérémie Kokot is a long-time collaborator and I knew that his ability to navigate between lyrical songwriting, electronic sound and musical composition could evoke the wild imagination of my bedridden self.