Warm Up Session avec Helena de Laurens © Lafayette Anticipations

With Helena de Laurens

During this Warm Up Session, artist Helena de Laurens invites us to explore faces as a space of expressive and sensitive encounter between the body and the voice. This interlacing of movement and words is at the heart of Helena de Laurens' work, notably her collaboration with artist Marion Siéfert on their creation _jeanne_dark_ presented from October 1 to 17 at La Commune (Aubervilliers) during the Festival d'Automne à Paris.

In the wake of her explorations on the grotesque and grimaces, Helena de Laurens invites us to question the possibility of a "face training". How can we work on/with our faces and what exists behind them ? Through anatomy, play, touch and sensation, this Warm Up Session will allow us to observe the circulations that occur in the realm of the face, where lively and playful expressions, expressivity, voices, images, masks, gazes, and materials meet.

Warm Up Session in partnership with the Festival d'Automne à Paris.

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The Warm Up Sessions stem from the desire to collectively discover, embody and question training techniques in performance. The series aims to situate the warm up as a vital step in the creation of performance pieces. Thus, training is understood as a starting point for choreographic, dramaturgical or performative productions, both a process of sharing and reflecting. Based upon inclusive invitations, the Sessions seek to deconstruct silos between movement and thought. The series offers a space to practice and discuss, open to all, and conceived in close partnership with guest artists. In this experimental terrain, audience members become active participants, giving birth to an ephemeral and recurring event.

A series curated by Madeleine Planeix-Crocker.

Recommended to wear comfortable clothes to move in, open to all.
Helena de Laurens voyage entre la danse, le théâtre et la performance.
Après une classe préparatoire littéraire, elle passe deux ans au Conservatoire du 7ème arrondissement de Paris en Art dramatique. Puis elle réalise un Master à L’EHESS sous la direction de Elizabeth Claire : La grimace et l’inouï : Danse et visage chez Valeska Gert (1892 – 1978). Elle collabore régulièrement avec Esmé Planchon (comédienne, auteure et conteuse) et avec Clara Pacotte (artiste et auteure). En 2017 elle est en résidence à la Cité Internationale des Arts. En 2018 elle crée Le grand sommeil avec la metteuse en scène Marion Siéfért au Théâtre de la Commune, un solo dont elle est l'interprète et la chorégraphe. Elle poursuivent actuellement leur collaboration avec une deuxième pièce : _jeanne_dark_ qui sera créée en octobre 2020 au Théâtre de la Commune, dans le cadre du Festival d’Automne.
Madeleine Planeix-Crocker is Curator of Performance and Live Arts at Lafayette Anticipations. Since 2021, she has held the positions of the « Troubles, alliances et esthétiques » co-Chair and professor of art theory at the Beaux-Arts de Paris.

Madeleine received her Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University before pursuing a Masters in « Media, Arts and Creation » at HEC Paris and a Master 2 in gender and performance studies at the EHESS. There, she led an arts-based research project with the nonprofit Women Safe, where she continues to facilitate a creative writing and theatre workshop. Madeleine is currently completing her PhD at the EHESS ; her dissertation research examines contemporary methods for devising performance in France.

Her most recent writing can be found in CURA., OnCurating, SwitchOn Paper, and EarthKeepingEarthShaking. She has curated two group shows : Spine at GIANNI MANHATTAN as part of Curated by (Vienna, 2024), as well as Scabs at the Mécènes du Sud (Montpellier, 2023). Madeleine pursues her training in contemporary dance.