In Lessons of Darkness, four bodies become the mouthpieces of stories that have been forgotten or wiped out. The bodies are straddled by forces that bind them together and shake their chests. They inflate and deflate, give blows, endure the impacts.
These people dig with their bodies curved, bent over until the invisible emerges. They transform and metamorphose themselves sometimes until they disappear. In turn, they challenge, testify, help, protect, support and make visions appear.
They have fears to share, images to blur, masks to assemble, fires to summon...
Lessons of Darkness is a liturgical musical genre of the XVIIth century that puts to music extracts of the Lamentations of Jeremiah text on the destruction of Jerusalem. It is also the title of a film directed by Werner Herzog in 1992 about the burning of 732 oil wells by Iraqi forces withdrawing from Kuwait. In it, the director presents a vision of apocalypse as a long poem about the end of the Earth.
Betty Tchomanga's Lessons of Darkness summon missing persons, ancestors, ghosts. They speak of Darkness and from Darkness, to explore the obscure, our hidden and buried stories.
On May 27 the screening will be followed by a discussion after the show between Betty Tchomanga and Prof. Dr. Debjani Bhattacharyya (Chair for the History of the Anthropocene / University of Zurich) - moderated by Joshua Wicke.
In Lessons of Darkness, four bodies become the mouthpieces of stories that have been forgotten or wiped out. The bodies are straddled by forces that bind them together and shake their chests. They inflate and deflate, give blows, endure the impacts.
These people dig with their bodies curved, bent over until the invisible emerges. They transform and metamorphose themselves sometimes until they disappear. In turn, they challenge, testify, help, protect, support and make visions appear.
They have fears to share, images to blur, masks to assemble, fires to summon...
Lessons of Darkness is a liturgical musical genre of the XVIIth century that puts to music extracts of the Lamentations of Jeremiah text on the destruction of Jerusalem. It is also the title of a film directed by Werner Herzog in 1992 about the burning of 732 oil wells by Iraqi forces withdrawing from Kuwait. In it, the director presents a vision of apocalypse as a long poem about the end of the Earth.
Betty Tchomanga's Lessons of Darkness summon missing persons, ancestors, ghosts. They speak of Darkness and from Darkness, to explore the obscure, our hidden and buried stories.
On May 27 the screening will be followed by a discussion after the show between Betty Tchomanga and Prof. Dr. Debjani Bhattacharyya (Chair for the History of the Anthropocene / University of Zurich) - moderated by Joshua Wicke.
| Choreography | Betty Tchomanga |
| Performers | Amparo Gonzalez Sola, Adélaïde Desseauve, Betty Tchomanga and Zoé Jaffry (in rotation with Balkis Mercier Berger) |
| Live voice and percussions | Folly Romain |
| Creation assistant | Emma Tricard |
| Light designer | Eduardo Abdala |
| Stage designers | Eduardo Abdala, Émilie Godreuil and Betty Tchomanga |
| Sound designer | Stéphane Monteiro |
| Musical collaborator | Mackenzy Bergile and Folly Romain Azaman |
| Costumes designer | Betty Tchomanga in collaboration with Marino Marchand (Pearls making: Love Aziakou, Jacqueline Houessinon) |
| Stage manager | Emilie Godreuil |
| Outside view | Dalila Khatir |
| Vocal consultant | Dalila Khatir and Viviane Marc |
| Stage technician | Bruno Roudaut |
| Recorded voices | Folly Azaman and Fortuné Agossa |
| Production and touring | Aoza - Marion Cachan and Roxane Torche |
| Audio description | Valérie Castan |
| Booklet | Olga Rozenblum |
| … |
| Coproductions | Le Quartz - Brest national scene, National Choreographic Center of Caen in Normandy, Orléans National Choreographic Center - Direction by Maud Le Pladec, Le Pacifique - CDCN of Grenoble, Theatre of Vanves, Le Triangle - Cité de la danse of Rennes, Nantes-Rennes-Brest- Rouen cooperation - Itinéraires d'Artiste[s], wpZimmer - Antwerp - Belgium, Les Subsistances in Lyon, Be My Guest - International network for emerging practises, Kaaitheater of Brussels. |
| Coproduction of the audio description | Le Quartz - Brest national scene with the support of ONDA and Danse à tous les étages in the frame of Tremplin. |
| Special thanks to | technical team of Le Quartz, team of Le Centre in Cotonou, Benin, team of Pacifique - CDCN of Grenoble, Vincent Blouch |
| With the support of | Gessnerallee Zürich Switzerland, Le Centre Cotonou Bénin, Kunstencentrum BUDA Courtrai Belgium, Réservoir danse Rennes, Centre Henri Queffelec Gouesnou |
| Sponsor | SARL SICC Saint-André-de-Cubzac |
| Financial support | the Cultural Ministry – Brittany Regional Cultural Affairs Fund (DRAC de Bretagne), from the Brittany region, from the Finistère Department, from Brest City, the Institut Français and La Caisse des Dépôts. |
