Splitting her time between Belgium and France, Florence-born choreographer Erika Zueneli creates works in which the bodies reflect our own behaviour.

Tournois, the third part of her research into the dialectics of conflict, puts seven dancers on stage as if they are in a life-size game of chess.
Both manipulating and manipulated, they come face to face in a series of “tournaments” that blur the boundaries between the game (the “jeu”) and the person (the “je”).

Featuring verbal jousts, demonstrations of strength, courtship displays and training lessons while continuously switching between reality and fiction, the choreography takes us through various situations – sometimes funny, sometimes intimate – to question relationships between people and the importance of what others see.

concept and choreography: Erika Zueneli
with: Emmanuelle Beauvois, Juan Benitez, Sébastien Jacobs,
Claire Haenni, Olivier Renouf, Shantala Pepe, Erika Zueneli
lound creation: Brice Cannavo
light creation: Sylvie Mélis
scenery and costumes: Perrine Leclere Bailly
production: Association l’Yeuse, with the co-production of Charleroi danses,
la Chapelle de Brigittines and Espace 1789 of the Théâtre de Bezons
scène conventionné, C.D.C. du Val-de-Marne/Biennale nationale
de danse de l’ADAMI
with the support of L’L (Bxl) – lieu de recherche et d’accompagnement pour la jeune création,
Centre National de la danse (Paris)
project realized with the support of Ministère de la Communauté française
Wallonie-Bruxelles – Service de la Danse