STONE

Sometimes the void left by a departure opens up a chasm : emotion rushes into it, as does thought and with them the body, lamenting and remembering, and above all acting. At her grandfather’s funeral, Garance Maillot chose to dance rather than make a speech. This movement triggered a search, with at its heart interlocking heritage, present and future. Nourished by the writings of Monique Wittig and Audre Lorde, the young dancer and performer sets out in search of the lesbian and queer figures of the choreographic art, absorbs the art of Loïe Fuller, Valeska Gert, Lucinda Childs, Jill Johnston, trail-blazing ‘body doubles’. Reactivates the archives, blending into them her own experience to create “a lesbian genealogy in the history of dance”. With story-telling, movement, song, addressing the audience, dismantling stigma, her aim is “for words never to become fixed, and remain able to follow all the contours of the living being”.