Fondation Royaumont - Prototype VI - Professional training course for choreographers and composers/sound artists

Hervé Robbe, artistic and academic director

The Prototype programme can be seen as a special training period like a research lab on choreographic writing and composition modes tied in with music and, more generally, with the other arts. It is a hub for sharing exchanges and transmission of knowledge in several disciplines which, thinking outside the box of standard production modes, marks a pause during which to question our knowledge, nurture our intellectual and artistic production, experiment with and shape a new choreographic object: a prototype.

The programme is geared each year around a theme and selected hypotheses for research. It includes theoretical contributions, conferences, testimonies and workshops, by artists, thinkers and practitioners in the field of dance, but also from other disciplines. Prototype has been designed as an ongoing dialogue between conceptualisation, experimentation, body-based practices and compositional implementation.

The programme has been designed for choreographers and composers/sound artists who, further to their application, are selected to participate in a Prototype cycle. Each cycle comprises three sessions lasting ten to fifteen days between December and August of the next year. The participants reside at the Fondation Royaumont.

During these three sessions, students participate every morning in a body-based or music practice.

The first two sessions comprise a set of talks on the central issue of the curriculum in order to enhance a critical pluri-disciplinary space and nurture the students’ approaches. Further to these two periods, each writer develops a project in resonance with the issues raised in the course, with emphasis on how music relates to dance.

During the third sessions, the students let their ideas take shape and experiment with them in a workshop to produce a model lasting around ten minutes. Between and during these two periods, Hervé Robbe is available at the Fondation Royaumont to address their artistic concerns and facilitate the practical implementation of the projects in accordance with their singularity.

During the last session, the trainees produce their prototypes with the participation of previously selected student dancers and musicians.

The pace of the residencies is set by public performances, the Fenêtres sur cour[s]. Those scheduled in the winter or spring are open workshops on the teachings of the end of the session. At the last workshop, there will be a presentation and criticism of the various choreographic prototypes.

Contact: prccformation@royaumont.com