May B sets in motion the parade of a drifting human condition with the invention of an abrupt theatrical language that transforms the ridiculous, the violent and the distressing in situations.

The dance’s power comes from its capacity to represent the mystery of our presence in the world.

This piece based on the writings of Samuel Beckett, whose work contradicts in its theatrical movement and atmosphere the physical and aesthetic performance of a dancer, has enabled us to lay the grounds for a secret deciphering of our most intimate, hidden and ignored gestures.

To succeed in unveiling the tiny or spectacular gestures of the many unnoticeable and inconspicuous lives in which waiting and «not quit still» stillness create a void, a huge nothingness, a silent space filled with the hesitations. When Beckett’s characters yearn for stillness, they cannot help moving; be it a little or a lot, they move.

In this essentially theatrical work, the point, for us, was less to develop words and speech than blownup form of movement, thus seeking the meeting point between movement applied to theatre on the one hand, and dance and choreographic language on the other.
– Maguy Marin

Born in Toulouse, dancer and choreographer Maguy Marin studies classical ballet at the Toulouse dance academy. Thereafter she joins the Strasbourg Dance Company, then Mudra, Maurice Béjart’s multi-disciplinary school in Brussels. In 1978, with Daniel Ambash, she founds the Ballet-Théâtre de l’Arche, which become the Compagnie Maguy Marin in 1984. The Centre Chorégraphique National de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne follows in 1985: its unremitting artistic work spread worldwide.

In 1987, Marin’s encounter with musician-composer Denis Mariotte is the starting point of a decisive partnership, which broadened the scope of experimentation.

Then in 1998, a new place to settle in, for a new Centre Chorégraphique National, in Rillieux-la-Pape: a place as a we in time and space to strengthen one’s ability to foster those diagonal forces resisting oblivion (H. Arendt).

The year 2011 see a remodeling of the framework in which the company’s reflection and achievements unfold. After the intensity of the Rillieux-la-Pape years, emerge in 2012 a need for a new phase in Toulouse.

2015, Maguy Marin and the company move back to Lyon’ suburbs. A permanent residency place, in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, who triggers the deployment of a new ambitious project: RAMDAM, UN CENTRE D’ART.

Choreography Maguy Marin
Dancers Kostia Chaix, Kaïs Chouibi, Lazare Huet, Daphné Koutsafti, Antoine Laval, Louise Mariotte , Lisa Martinez, Alaïs Marzouvanlian , Isabelle Missal , Ennio Sammarco
Light Designer Albin Chavignon
Costumes Louise Marin
Original Music Franz Schubert, Gilles de Binche, Gavin Bryars

Coproducers Compagnie Maguy Marin and Maison des Arts et de la Culture de Créteil

La Compagnie Maguy Marin is subsidized by le Ministère de la Culture – DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, la Ville de Lyon, la Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and receives financial support from l’Institut Français for projects abroad.