Biography

As a dancer and choreographer, and the creator of experimental projects such as the ephemeral school Bocal and Musée de la danse, Boris Charmatz subjects dance to formal constraints that redefine the scope of its possibilities. After directing Musée de la danse, National Choreographic Centre of Rennes and Brittany from 2009 to 2018, Boris Charmatz in January 2019 launches [terrain], association based in the Hauts-de-France Region and associated with the Phénix National Stage of Valenciennes, the Lille Opera and the Maison de la Culture of Amiens. Boris Charmatz is also an associated artist of Charleroi danse (Belgium) from 2018 to 2022. His work has been presented worldwide.

From À bras-le-corps (1993) to SOMNOLE (2021), he has created a series of seminal works, including Aatt enen tionon (1996), enfant (2011), created for the Cour d’Honneur of the Festival d’Avignon, and 10000 gestes (2017). He creates projects that combine participation and curatorial gestures, in the public space and outside performing arts venues, such as Fous de danse, A Dancer’s Day and 20 Dancers for the XX Century and even more. He is the author of several books (Entretenir/à propos d’une danse contemporaine, 2003, co-authored with Isabelle Launay; Je suis une école, 2009), and is also a performer (notably with Odile Duboc, Médéric Collignon, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Tino Sehgal).

In 2021, Boris Charmatz created La Ronde in the Nave of the Grand Palais before closure for renovation, and orchestrated the performance Happening Tempête for the opening of the Grand Palais Éphémère. In July of the same year, he opened the Manchester International Festival with Sea Change, a choreographic project in the urban space with 150 amateur and professional performers.

In August 2022, Boris Charmatz will take over the direction of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch to develop a new project with [terrain] between Germany and France.