Choreographic interactions Habib Ben Tanfous
“I like the idea of erasing the barrier between stage and auditorium, of being in a shared space, of thinking that the audience can have an impact on what happens on stage. I’m not a big fan of the fourth wall.”
ELAN 2023 – CND Lyon
Contacted by Julie Guibert, the former director of the Opéra National de Lyon, Habib Ben Tanfous was given free rein to develop a three-day training course. He decided to work with the young people on the notion of physical fragility, the body as an “archive”. How do we distance ourselves from the idea of a high-performance body where technique is not the starting point but rather something that accompanies one’s body?
Orchestre vide (creation 2025-2026)
“For one night, we plunge ourselves into a place where everything is possible. A karaoke where, for an instant, complex beings try their hand at a song and lose themselves in it. Between delirium and reality, between the visible and the invisible. Five characters, as eclectic as they are unique, tell their stories through the words of songs from an era they never knew.”
Why include the audience?
This creation of around 45 minutes will be part of an evening that offers the prospect of an endless night.
For this creation, Habib would like to choose a shared space outside a conventional theatre, without an auditorium, to break away from conventional theatricality. Residencies will be organised as an open laboratory to explore how audiences can interact on stage, perhaps for the duration of a slow dance. During these residencies, participants will be informed beforehand that they will be asked to take an active part in the piece.
