Excerpts of a work in progress
Plier (To bend)
A solo by Virgile Dagneaux – Cie Virgule (Montpellier)
Plier is a solo performance currently in creation, combining dance, humor, and intimacy. Virgile Dagneaux, alone on stage, explores his body marked by time, retracing the effects of 20 years of practice.
“Becoming aware of the death of my youth, the end of the beginning. More specifically, the end of the youth of my dancer’s body, which, with age, transforms… into something else. I like to attempt answering serious questions by offering joyful, poetic, and light resolutions. But then, how do we go from entropy to poetry?
Plier takes the form of a solo performance, filled with choreography, gestural movements, humor, and intimacy. I reflect on what remains of my body, with its falling hair and stumbling knees. I patiently apply myself to mapping it, then inventorying its gestures: what remains of 20 years of practicing academic and contemporary dance, exploring rhythm through tap and percussive body work – but also touring and the cracks? How do I playfully modulate my movements through repetition, transgression, falls, distortion of time, exploring the grotesque, the sensual, and play? How do we move from the intimate to the collective?
I’m almost 40, still sleepwalking, caught somewhere between my dreams and reality. Let our entropy be a celebration, abundant, funny, and filled with dancing gestures.”
Virgile Dagneaux
Company Virgule
Virgule is a choreographic company based in Montpellier. We create performances that oscillate between the poetic, the narrative, and the sensitive. We use hiphop dance, contemporary dance, as well as physical and object theatre to create “moving” stories—pieces that are meant to be accessible with multiple layers of meaning.
We offer various formats for non-traditional spaces, where performances and workshops intertwine, blending practice and sharing choreographic tools to guide the audience in receiving the works.
Virgile Dagneaux
Virgile Dagneaux began his dance journey at 8 years old with tap dancing, later exploring various styles including classical, contemporary, jazz, and hip-hop.
His career as a performer has led him to work with artists such as Leela Petronnio, Jérémie Bélinguard, Kader Attou, Mathilde Monnier, Anne-Marie Porras, and Salia Sanou.
In 2015, he founded the Virgule company and has since created several works, including Pingouin (2017), a danced children’s tale, which has been performed 200 times around the world, including on a basketball court in a favela in Argentina and at the Opéra Bastille.
Monstres (2018) is a unique duet with two exceptional dancers, exploring difference, strangeness, and coexistence. Les Monts Brumeux (2022) tells the story of a man who rains, combining narrative bodies, farce, new magic, and object manipulation.
Since 2023, Virgile Dagneaux has been creating performances for non-dedicated spaces, including L’Empéreur, a revisit of Pingouin, and ROYAUME(S), a versatile, humorous, poetic, and spectacular trio for all audiences. Outside his company, Virgile assists Kader Attou and Mourad Merzouki on Danser Casa and co-choreographs El Ultimo Balle del Rey, a ballet for 30 Argentine dancers. In 2024, he will choreograph Don’t Disturb for the Kourtajme company.
Cast & partners
Choreography & dance | Virgile Dagneaux
Outside eye | Mathilde Monnier
Lighting design | Lucas Prudhomme
Producer | Marie Frignani
Production | Company Virgule
Co-production (in progress) | Théâtre de Suresnes Jean Vilar ; Théâtre Molière Sète ; SCOPIE ; Cie Mathilde Monnier
Support – residencies (in progress) | Montpellier Danse ; Théâtre Jacques Coeur ; Halle Tropisme
Company Virgule is supported by DRAC Occitanie, Région Occitanie, the County of Hérault, Métropole Montpellier Méditerranée.
Saturday, December 7
8:30 PM
Théâtre d’O
Double bill with Blood Flows… by Les Gamal. The performances are followed by a Q&A.
The theater bar will be open for drinks, snacks and light meals.
🚴🏽 Come by bike! 🚴🏽 Free on-site maintenance by our partner Cyclable and a surprise for the first 5 cyclists who check in at the ticket office.
Presale: 16€ (reduced rate: 10€)
On-site: 18€ (reduced rate: 12€)
Photo © lucasIanelli