Philippe Decouflé
Most choreographers are just that - choreographers! But Philippe Decouflé is more than this: a "camera danseur", a multi-media dreamer and an all-round producer of the sort of culture in which everything is determined by appearance and looking. What particularly fascinates Decouflé are simply images, be it on stage or in film. One camera pan and we see him as a director of video clips, a cinema choreographer or a manager of public parades. His TV spot, for cameras, of all things, was awarded the Silver Lion in Venice, while one of his videos won the Ministry of Culture's Prix de la qualité. He has been honoured in short film festivals, as well as by a festival for humorous short films and the association of French film critics. He has made commercials for France Télécom and shorts for advertising breaks on Antenne 2. His laboratory is a huge dice-shaped former electrical works building called "La Chaufferie". It was not solely due to its proximity to the World Cup stadium that Decouflé was chosen to choreograph Yves Saint Laurent models in the republic's sports ceremony. Philippe Decouflé is in fact the fifth republic's inofficial master of ceremonies.
Did you make your first foray into video art before of after establishing yourself as a choreographer?
It all began simultaneously. My interest in dance was prompted as much by films as by my own dancing. Watching choreographies only came later. I saw jazz films, with the Nicolas Brothers dancing. I liked that kind of thing. And the genre 'comédie musicale'. I always enjoyed the relationship between dance and camera. My first video 'La voix des légumes' (´The Voice Of Vegetables´) in the early eighties appeared before my first stage choreographies. It consisted of small duos. After this I arrived at the conclusion that they weren't ideal in terms of video technology. I wanted to make cinema, which has scope for more attractive images and fantastic camera angles. Since then I've always tried to shoot with film, in Cinemascope, so that it's suited to television. Although it has to be said that video technology has improved since then and digital video lets you shoot very beautiful images in a very simple way. Equipment gets cheaper and lighter all the time.
Who were your teachers or mentors?
One of my first teaching masters was Alwin Nikolais. I worked with him in France and New York and saw his films. I really loved his approach, his way of tackling everything. His technique of filming dance in close-up so that only the hands, the legs or the knee are dancing was only made possible by television. Charlotte Less' films about Cunningham were also a revelation. After that I did a workshop with Cunningham in New York.
What's the difference between stage and film choreography?
The difference is vast, and they complement each other. The relationship to time and space is completely different. Even the way the dancer moves is different. The cinema shot can be perfected, you just shoot the scene until you're happy with it. But in the process you lose the dancer's fragility on stage, the beauty of the ephemeral. We've made film versions of parts of my pieces, building on the same ideas and concepts. Although you can easily develop a theme for both stage and camera you have to adapt to the respective temporal and spatial relations. A lot that you can portray on stage isn't so interesting in film. In my next film I'll be developing ideas that aren't possible on the stage but are typical of cinematography.
Who has the biggest influence when you're shooting?
The chief operator. He's the one creating the images, dealing with the film, choosing the shots and the picture, the lighting - he's the one who creates the poetry of the image. Every chief operator develops his own way of working with the image and capturing the movement.
How is the space treated?
With cinema there are cuts. The space changes with every scene. There's no frontal gearing of the image to the public and the edge of the stage. The camera can be placed anywhere. You don't need to choreograph all the entrances and exits - the dancer can simply leave the picture or the cameraman can zoom out.
Have you often used the same material for both genres?
'Shazam!' and the film essay 'Abracadabra' both deal with the same subject. The conceptual work took 18 months. The basis was an examination of pure dance, the relationship between dance and image and between dance and live music.
How can you explain France's strong position in the combining of dance and video?
In France dance generally is better off than in most countries. And vidéo-danse has existed for fifteen years. The Centre Pompidou organises video spectacles annually and so a public has grown up and refined its taste. Choreographers have developed a great interest in the genre. I've been co-produced by ARTE. Catherine Trautmann recently spoke to me because she wants to improve the profile of dance and arts in general in TV. As yet, any dance on TV is shown at inconvenient times. So more people could come into contact with contemporary dance, so long as dance makes sure it deserves it.
Are you working on any new projects that combine dance and moving images?
At the moment I'm working on a full-length cinema film, with a kind of scenario. The dance will be an end in itself rather than just a function of the plot. I'll be developing things that wouldn't be possible on the stage. I had planned to develop a new large-scale project with Jean-Paul Montanari from Montpellier Danse, but we lost our funding. Now I'll be taking 'Shazam!' and 'Triton' to festivals. I'd like to integrate other images into stage work or to choreograph virtual dancers. In my lifetime, dancers and holograms will almost certainly be interacting on the stage. Anything new interests me enormously. I love evoking dreams and creating poetry. Projections can be very effective for this. And why shouldn't audiences alternate freely between screen and stage?
Thomas Hahn, Journalist
Published in Ballet International Actual Dance -magazine
