"Sous le Volcan offers an attempt to heal the community"
An interview with Leslie Mannès about her new production, "Under the Volcano"
Five dancers attempt to respond to the tremors of the world, caught between order and chaos. In an endless flow of movement, they momentarily set aside their individuality to reach out to one another. From the uniqueness of the individual body to the unison of the ensemble, they reconnect with feelings of interdependence and solidarity. How can we listen? How can we trust? How do we come to an agreement? Leslie Mannès shed light on the underlying currents running through her new creation. An interview conducted by Sophie Thomine.
"I wanted to create a framework of ideas that highlights the principles of cooperation"
Tell us about the title *Under the Volcano* – what does it mean?
I chose this title because it sparks the imagination. It evokes a powerful and explosive force of nature and can also carry an emotional charge. It invites us to ask questions. What lies beneath this volcano? Elements in fusion, ready to be unleashed; struggles; battles? Is it a force to be contained or set free? Is it the past, like magma, always ready to erupt into our present? Is it a much deeper, ancestral force observing from its distant depths the upheavals and violence of the world that emerge daily on its surface?
The starting point for your reflection is the observation that our connections with others and with the living world are fraying, and that we live in a world where ecological, social and political crises follow one after another. Does your show offer a possible answer to this world? An invitation to do things differently together?
In a world where we can no longer deny our interdependence, it seemed crucial to me to explore the question of community: how to listen, how to reach agreement, how to act together. Far from claiming to be able to influence ecological and societal crises through theatre, I felt it was essential to place relationships, connections and empathy at the heart of the show’s themes.
Sous le volcan portrays communities at work, micro-societies in action. I wanted to offer a framework of imaginaries that highlights the principles of cooperation and mutual aid, in order to open up narratives other than those of competition, victory and failure.
I wanted to give a voice to those who care for others, who cherish everyone’s vulnerabilities, starting with their own. I wanted us to honour those who work for the common good, who weave the threads of a social fabric every day and who will tirelessly start again with every new tear.
"We have worked around a unison that creates a sensory interplay between our perception of the individual members and our perception of the group."
In your work, you explore the energy and power that moments of gathering can have on our bodies, and you examine the functions of collective practices such as rites and rituals. Is *Sous le volcan* inspired by rituals, and if so, in what way?
Rites and rituals breathe new life into social, emotional and cultural bonds. They create a break from the everyday and overturn the codes that define society by provoking a shift between order and chaos. These are moments that create breaches, cracking open our armour and releasing powerful, vital forces—sometimes furious, sometimes sensitive.
In Sous le volcan, we explore the notions of transition and the shift from one state to another. Rituals often accompany moments of transition, whether they relate to memory, celebration, healing... We draw inspiration from the unifying energy of these gatherings, which bring about and sustain change, adaptation and metamorphosis.
Costumes are also powerful drivers of transformation, helping to upend familiar reference points. Together with Marie Artamonoff, the costume designer, we have sought to create figures that blur the lines, which could belong just as much to the past, the present or the future, in order to breathe new potentialities and unexpected paths of transformation into the work.
Tell us about your choreographic work on this production?
We draw on physical references from folklore or labour, from those moments when bodies come together to generate energy. To achieve this pooling of energy, we have worked around a unison that creates a sensory back-and-forth between our perception of the individual members and our perception of the group. I am particularly moved by unison because it reveals the intimacy of each person, particularly through the place each individual occupies within the group and how that place evolves.
We have worked on an organic, kinesthetic and emotional approach to movement within a certain formal simplicity to tap into a raw energetic dimension. For several years, I have been exploring a choreographic language inspired by energetic and martial practices nourished by a connection to the elements and nature. In *Sous le volcan*, there is a strong connection to the earth, to a percussive quality in the gestures and bodies, further enhanced by Solène Moulin’s musical composition. The dancers will be almost constantly in motion, moving through a continuous metamorphosis.
Is Sous le volcan an ode to the restorative energy of the collective?
In Sous le volcan, we aim to confront the amnesia and consequences of our collective and individual traumas. In this performance, we propose a journey with several stages, all necessary for the unfolding of a transformation. To do this, we must allow ourselves to be moved, to falter, and to try to pick ourselves up again and again. These metamorphoses are made possible by the presence of the group and can only occur when we are all together in a community of hearts.
Sous le volcan perhaps offers an attempt to heal the collective through the portrayal of beings who set aside their individuality to engage in the experience of ‘doing together’, with the desire to serve the common good and to care for it.