How does the image of the body transform from stage to screen? Christian Rizzo, director of the International Choreographic Institute in Montepellier, moves towards answering this question in a two-week workshop with local dancers. Using two cameras and a screen, they will create a simultaneous double-fiction of dance onscreen and onstage.

The idea is to approach a live filmed dance piece while revealing the choreographic stakes of the actions to be filmed. How do you conceptualise the frame when what's happening offscreen is still visible to the spectator? Which gestures are saved for the camera, and which gestures are directed at the live audience?

Three complementary frames of vision are considered in constructing the dance: the overall studio space, the wide onscreen view, and the close-up. The challenge is to use the image-capture devices to create movement-generating rules, while paying close attention to the dance's appearance in the three performance frames.  

In May 2024, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts are organising a two–week workshop for Master of Fine Arts students led by choreographer Christian Rizzo. The workshop will culminate in an open studio presentation in collaboration with French May.

Conception & Choreography: Christian Rizzo

Artistic Assistant & Video: Sophie Laly

Christian Rizzo

Born in 1965 in Cannes, France, Christian Rizzo took his first steps as an artist in Toulouse, where he started a rock band and created a clothing line before studying visual arts at the Villa Arson in Nice. Serendipitous encounters led him to the stage.

In the 1990s, he performed with numerous contemporary choreographers, sometimes responsible for their soundtracks or costume creation. Notable collaborators include Mathilde Monnier, Hervé Robbe, Mark Tompkins, Georges Appaix, Vera Mantero, Catherine Contour, Emmanuelle Huynh, and Rachid Ouramdane.

In 1996, he created the 'l'association fragile' and presented performances, dance pieces, and commissions for opera, fashion, and visual arts. Since then, over thirty productions have come to fruition. Rizzo regularly teaches in art schools in France and abroad, as well as in institutions dedicated to contemporary dance.

In 2015, Rizzo took over as the Director of the Centre Chorégraphique National de Montpellier/Occitanie, now known as ICI (International Choreographic Institute). His approach combines creation, training, artistic education, and openness to the public. Based on various practices and disciplines, ICI is a forward-looking space dealing effectively with inviting artists, creating the choreographic gesture, and studying its forms when shared.

Sophie Laly

Born in 1973 in Arras, France. Lives and works in Paris and Arles, France.

Sophie Laly is a videographer whose work is intimately intertwined with contemporary dance. She has collaborated with several choreographers including Daniel Larrieu, Alain Buffard, Emmanuelle Huynh, Rachid Ouramdane, Latifa Laâbissi, Sylvain Prunenec, and most frequently, Christian Rizzo. She also develops video art projects where the notions of time and space question the place of mankind in the landscape. They are constructed as reflections about the actions, purpose, and essence of all earthly beings. With this in mind, Laly creates artworks that transcend reality, using visual play in order to present views of the world through a poetic lens that translates her intimate and pictorial relationship with nature.