The MAJE Company organizes practical workshops and artistic residences, immersive and interactive as a starting point. The encounter between contemporary artistic creation and diverse audiences is at the core of the proposal. Questions related to artistic approach and creation are activated in a playful exchange and experiences between the artist and the audience. The Company's artists, facilitators, and animators, specialized in their respective fields of intervention (dance and body shadow, capture and pr ojection of digital art, creation of sound environment, and practice of diverted musical instruments), invite the audience to become actors in spontaneous and ephemeral creation. Various options are available depending on the expected objectives and availa ble time. Since each situation is unique, the program of workshops/residences is often developed in collaboration with the organizers.
Warm-ups during a dance improvisation class
Making caches to create shadows
The aim is to develop an educational action based on a concrete artistic experience. Direct contact with a young and diverse audience in schools, leisure centers, high schools, and communities allows sensitizing a broad spectrum to contemporary creation. F rom this, we can: - Build bridges between professional and amateur practice. - Develop and value the multidisciplinarity promoted by the Company (dance, multimedia, music). - Establish close relationships through privileged exchange moments. - Stimulate personal development and imagination by embedding them in a creative approach. - Work and question around different aspects of reality: concrete (the body), projected or illusory (its shadow), dreamed, transcended, poetic and utopian (images and music). In addition, the proposed improvisation techniques allow everyone to move with their own corporeality. Dance thus becomes, through the effect of self appropriation, the language of the body. Expressive and playful, with strong creative power, it communicates feelings, stories, and ideas simultaneously. The moving body, transcended by its shadow (a projection of reality...), the scenic device, the interaction of digital art and music, bring the audience together in a community connected to a cultural territory.
The primary intention is to simplify gestures. There are no complex choreographies to memorize or demanding movements to perform. Our working approach focuses on energy, body elasticity, and mobility, recalling and thus defining the foundations of contempo rary dance. In daily life, this allows for staying fit and getting to know oneself better. Dance complements our cognitive system by setting our body in motion, turning it into an instrument of communication through ideas and metaphors it can generate. Thu s, while dancing, we identify ourselves and connect to a common culture. Those who dance become aware of their body and being, facilitating relationships with others and with the society in which we live. Anyone can dance, regardless of gender, age, educati onal level, social background, shape, size, and experience. Participating in dance is a social act that breaks down barriers and divisions. Our program aims, in appropriate proportions, to remedy confinement and isolation. Therefore, this pedagogical work is specifically directed towards public entities involved in a robust cultural action based on the belief that dance, as well as sound, visual, and digital arts, are suitable for conveying beneficial signals. The contemporaneity of these media, encompassi ng materiality, corporality, and virtuality, raises the question of the systematic adoption of digital technologies that often bewilder the educational community. Ultimately, this program seeks to initiate a critical and creative approach to modes of repre sentation that confront reality and virtuality.
Show of collective creation "shadow is afraid of the dark"
Drawings of children participating in the show
A / Participants attend the presentation of a dance body shadow, digital art, and music show (short form) by the Company, or a rehearsal, demonstration, or complete rehearsal of the show.
B / Discovery of shadow theater through history and its origin. Initiation and demonstration related to the specific stage, learning terms of the used material, and rules of shadow creation.
C / Various activities are proposed based on a predefined or collectively chosen story :
- Creation of silhouettes and masks from templates or imagined.Creation of silhouettes and masks from templates or imagined.
- Set design.
- Discovery of the possibilities offered by the shadow technique and the involved constraints, Discovery of the possibilities offered by the shadow technique and the involved constraints, with and without material.with and without material.
- Learning manipulation and shadow creation.Learning manipulation and shadow creation.
- Rehearsals of the show with a sound environment.Rehearsals of the show with a sound environment.
Dance and video image jointly address a double theme: body and visual identity. The concept of Body Image is explored and developed. The pedagogical work of the Company is linked to current school teaching. The contents of different disciplines are a prete xt for stage research. They are approached and reinterpreted through staging using dance, shadow, and video.
The body, activated by dance, is at the center of a stage device that poses challenges to our stage writing: it carries a reflection on play and interactivity. Its hybrid nature between reality (the body in motion) and virtuality (digital sounds and images ) carries within itself the meaning of the relationship established with the audience. Access to interactivity and the question of creating illusion are addressed here. This concretely provides a wide audience with the discovery of means of implementing co ntemporary stage creation. The approach and discovery of innovative technologies and their potentials are particularly favored in this workshop.
Scenes are created by participants based on directed improvisations. Staged in the Company's stage device (body, screen, multimedia), the themes are filmed by cameras capable of recording movements (movement tracking or Tracking). Then, interaction becomes possible. Actors directly act through the device in the ongoing projection. This workshop sequence is extremely playful. Creation is stimulated by play and self involvement.
- The video projector projects a beam of light onto the screen.
- Actors pass in front of the projector and create body shadows on the screen.
- A special camera captures these silhouettes and their movements (Tracking) and transmits them to the video projector, which instantly projects them again.
- The video control processes the projected images by adding special effects.The video control processes the projected images by adding special effects.
- On the screen, there is an immediate accumulation and recycling of the produced shadows : On the screen, there is an immediate accumulation and recycling of the produced shadows : each initial gesture is transformed and becomes a visual work combining dance and drawing.each initial gesture is transformed and becomes a visual work combining dance and drawing. From an educational standpoint, thanks to the hybridization of techniques, we illustrate the From an educational standpoint, thanks to the hybridization of techniques, we illustrate the path taken between the origin of animated images (Chinese shadow) and the extraordinary path taken between the origin of animated images (Chinese shadow) and the extraordinary possibilities offered by new technologies.possibilities offered by new technologies.
The minimum dimensions of the space for the activity practice are 7m by 7m, with a ceiling height of 2.80m. Complete darkness is imperative (shutters, blackout curtains, etc.). The space must have been organized and cleared before the Company's arrival and must have at least one 16A electrical outlet. The Company is autonomous in technical terms for light and sound during the workshops. Installation is done either the day before or 2.5 hours before the activity, and dismantling takes place 1.5 hours afterward. A parking space should be provided as close as possible to the venue. It is worth noting that technical requirements depend on the type of workshop chosen, as well as the venue and audience.
These conditions are defined and detailed case by case.
Compagnie Maje/Maje Company/ Compania Maje /
Domaine web : compagniemaje.art
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