The Jacques Rooms - 2022

Les Chambres des Jacques is an intense and human work by Aszure Barton, where dialogue and trust shape a raw, surprising dance that is deeply connected to the performers.

Aszure Barton's Les Chambres des Jacques was created and presented in 2005 and reimagined in 2022. The New York Times described it as "a rare example of dance that feels as though it sprang directly from the choreographer's extremely precise imagination and was mounted, as a grown-up, on stage... full of surprise and humor, emotion and pain, expressed through a dance vocabulary that takes ballet technique and deconstructs it until it is almost invisible."

Les Chambres des Jacques is deeply physical, wild, and beautifully human all at once. Barton is interested in fostering deep connections and establishing a process-oriented space where trust is paramount and dancers are encouraged to express themselves authentically. This piece exemplifies this process. More than anything else, Les Chambres establishes a dialogue between the choreographer and the dancers, making this connection visible.

During the creative process, Barton was deeply inspired by her conversations with the various dancers. In fact, language and verbal communication became the vehicle through which the distinct physical language could manifest itself. It was through dialogue that the language of the piece was born.

“ It’s so cool to have the opportunity to return to Les Chambres des Jacques several years later. It reminds me that language itself is sufficient and, in a way, timeless. I’m looking forward to diving back into this world with a vibrant openness and discovering how it evolves with this new generation of dancers. It will undoubtedly be regenerative and awakening! That said, I will continue to remind myself, and the dancers, that we must focus on form and allow the humanity of the body to be considered sufficient. It’s profoundly beautiful when we keep things honest and simple. ”