NOTATION AND TRANSMISSION OF THE MOVEMENT
OF A RUTA GRAVEOLENS
choreographic piece · experimental film · fanzine
Dancing Like a Rue
The choreographic work in this piece involves experimenting with the metabolic effects of fasting, specific workouts, adjustments in sleep schedule, sugar elimination, and the incorporation of certain plants into my diet. This “training” unfolds over several months and is essentially a physiological choreography that highlights the changes these experiments induce in the body.
The goal is to focus on proprioception as a crucial condition for altering our ability to perceive our surroundings and, consequently, our external perception.
Simultaneously, the work on stillness has been fundamental for concentrating on the body's micro-movements and the “gestural” changes in the context. Stillness becomes a means of slowing down perceptual time, allowing for the amplification of our sensorium.
The Film
To learn to dance like Ruta graveolens, we photographed and filmed it extensively: we created time-lapses to understand its movements, observed how its ellipses change direction, and captured the agitation of its young leaves swaying from side to side at night. We also explored gardens and roadside edges, filming it in spring at the Calanques Nature Park.
In this film about/with rue, we take a speculative approach to how plants perceive light — that is, how they “see.” Engaging with the rue serves as a starting point to imagine the symbiotic and mutualistic condition of all forms of life, a condition often obscured by the dominance of the organized biological individual.
Credits
Camera: aniara rodado, Gabriel Roman
Artistic support: Jean Marc Chomaz
Film production: Antre-Peaux and Bandits-Mages
Field production: Nathalia Belarcazar Gamboa
General assistance: Emilio Sánchez Galán
Souport: C3A-Cordoba Andaloucie, Residence ABBAS
Support for the forest study version: Laboratoire d'Art Contemporain — Le Lac
Dancer for the forest study version : Agata Jarosová
Dancers: Aïssa Nemir, Laura Morales, aniara rodado
Musical composition and programming: Marco Antonio Suárez Cifuentes
Production: Chaire arts & sciences — École Polytechnique & École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs — PSL, with the support of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation.