A vague silhouette first approaches, then immediately shares with us a moment in time. JIMMY’s body plunges into the bizarre.

Alone, he tells us more than the story of a unique existence, establishing all kinds of fictional accounts, tinged with the reality on our doorsteps. Whose is the story unfolding before our eyes? What experience(s) does it bear witness to? Who is - or isn’t - JIMMY?

With JIMMY, the dance takes its place through deployments that shrink and fade as the minutes go by. The solo exhausts all the available options, tried out one by one on the stage, a movement changes direction, turns on itself, repeats itself, undulates … JIMMY is waves and matter at the same time - movement and physicality connected. In an atmosphere that sometimes feels like a daydream, the dance, like a frontier, undulates and blurs the boundary between the reality of a body and the imaginary ghosts emanating from it.

Anonymous and evocative, the figure of JIMMY gives off a most singular energy. Catching our gaze and lifting something into the air which drops down gentle, pierced through before it hits the ground. At the heart of the sectioned linearities of the movement, Jazz Barbé’s hands, decisive physical supports, replace his gaze, sniff the air, form signs, mask his face and move his body in a flow with sporadic eruptions.

Pierre Pontvianne carves out a choreography which oscillates and draws heavily on the performer’s resources, between theme and variation, inspired by the intimate singularity of a body, with one ear to the rumbling undertones of the times. Like a storm that never passes far away, JIMMY’s world appropriates the turmoil we may feel when the way of the world becomes dystopic, when the peaceful continuity of our sheltered lives gives way to doubt.

Solo.

Alone on the floor.

Alone in the midst of time.

Without touching the edges - or perhaps only twice.

Cast

Choreography
Pierre Pontvianne
Performance
Jazz Barbé
Assistant
Laura Frigato
Sound Design
Pierre Pontvianne
Costume
Pierre Pontvianne
Lighting
Victor Mandin
Set Design
Pierre Treille
Administration & Production
Emilie Tournaire, Compagnie PARC
International Production & Promotion
AnSó. Raybaut-Pèrès
France Touring
Lara Thozet

Production

Compagnie PARC

Première
22 & 23 May at Festival June Events 2024 – Atelier de Paris / CDCN (FR)
Pierre Pontvianne is an associated artist with the Atelier de Paris / CDCN

Coproduction& residences

Atelier de Paris / CDCN, CCN de Montpellier, Comédie de Saint-Etienne / CDN, Les Brigittines (BE), L’Échappée à Sorbiers, La Comète à Saint-Etienne.