Biography
Now in their thirties, Sidonie Duret, Jérémy Martinez and Emilie Szikora met in 2009 at the national music and dance conservatoire (CNSMD) in Lyon, where they experimented with creation and performance in P’Lay’s, a piece for three dancers and a crisp-eater. This trio gave rise to Collectif ÈS in 2011. In 2014, their second piece, Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobie,* won the Prix du Public at the 6th Concours Reconnaissance. What they enjoy most is rummaging, searching and exploring to make three-handed choreographic compositions. Collectif ÈS approaches the creative process as a collective endeavour, making objects that flow from the group. Through concrete actions and intentions, the three choreographers seek a physical intensity that drives bodies to commit and be fully inhabited; and a desire to develop a physical empathy, to be invested in bodies that convey and exude the pleasure of being together. This research is constantly informed by their interrogations of communication, of group energy, of their need to operate in this way, and of the social role their cast can play. Creating is an opportunity to come together and strive together, to examine their relationships with others. They try to understand and emphasise the question of intimacy and commonality, in passing from one to the other. This informs each of their pieces: Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobie* (2014); Jean-Yves, Patrick et Corinne (2017), a trio for five; 1ère MONDIALE (2019), some group solos; and Fiasco (2021). La Série Populaire, initiated in 2016 with I wanna dance with somebody, revisits the customs of popular practices and gatherings, and brings the collective – in the broad sense – into play in pieces with hybrid, participatory forms that engage audiences. Next came Le Karaodance (2018) and Loto3000 (2020).