In 2009, DAVID ROLLAND brought us a version of his show Lecteurs. In 2015, he returned to Les Tombées de la Nuit with a magical performance in rue du Mail François Mitterrand and rue des Horizons with the event “Happy Manif” (“Happy Protest”). This time, the Nantes-based choreographer presents a site-specific creation with a participative sound-based promenade in the Rennes cemetery, the Cimetière du Nord. Only a long-term partnership like this could be trusted to deliver with an unusual perspective on such a symbolically loaded place. This mutual relationship of trust between the city’s Funeral Services (following on from Patrice de Bénédetti’s wonderful piece “Solo pour un monument aux morts”) and this sensitive and humorous artist makes possible this first in France: an invitation to wander around a graveyard.

“Au milieu d’un lac de perles” is a walk for two. Each participant picks up an MP3 player that plays a different soundtrack to that of their teammate, with a mix of storytelling, music, film and literature extracts and vocal instructions to guide the participants’ movements and actions. The graveyard becomes the site of a physical and mental journey through different religious funeral rites. Paradoxically, the promenade is also very much an exploration of the present. Is this for real ?

A master at challenging our relationship to the body and movement, DAVID ROLLAND sees dance as an encounter and collective experience in public space. His promenade work invites us to adopt a new point of view on our behaviours.
The alleys of Rennes’ beautiful historic cemetery will give this shared exploration of humanity particular meaning.