LES CHAMBRES
DES JACQUES

Aszure Barton

Aszure Barton’s Les Chambres des Jacques was originally created and performed in 2005 and was pointedly described in The New York Times as “a rare instance of a dance that feels as if it were plucked straight from the choreographer’s extremely specific imagination and set, full-grown, onstage...full of surprise and humor, emotion and pain, expressed through a dance vocabulary that takes ballet technique and dismantles it to near-invisibility.”

Les Chambres des Jacques is at once physical, wild, and beautifully human. Barton is interested in deep connection and in creating a process-driven space where trust is front and center – where dancers are seen and encouraged to make choices and to show up as they are. The piece is an example of that process and Les Chambres, more than anything, establishes a dialogue between the choreographer and dancers where that connection is visible.

During the process of creating the work, Barton became very inspired by her conversations with the individual dancers. In fact, verbal language and communication became the vehicle through which the distinct physical language was able to come through. It was through dialogue that the piece’s language was born.

“It is very cool to have the opportunity to return to Les Chambres des Jacques many years later. I am reminded that the language itself is enough and it is somehow timeless. I am excited to dive back into the world with animated openness and to discover how it evolves with this new generation of dancers. It will be regenerative and awakening no doubt! This said, I’ll continue to remind myself and the dancers to focus on the form and to allow the humanity within the body to be seen as enough. It is profoundly beautiful when we keep things honest and simple.”