Corps extrêmes

Rachid Ouramdane

German premiere

Premiere: June 23, 2021, Montpellier Danse

Acrobats and masters of extreme sports meet in the air and test the limits of the human body. They escape gravity, fly off and stand on the border between life and death. The fear, excitement, and tension revealed in these extreme situations shed a poetic light on human nature.



In his 2019 piece "Möbius," Rachid Ouramdane transformed acrobatic lifting figures by Compagnie XY into dizzying flocks of starlings. He went one step further in his 2021 work "Corps extrêmes." He brought in two athletes* who are used to unfolding high in the air in the solitude of the mountains: Nina Caprez, Swiss climbing champion, and Nathan Paulin, highline world record holder, famous for his high-wire act between the Eiffel Tower and the Palais de Chaillot in 2017. "Corps extrêmes" brings their practices to life firsthand, revealing the motivations and philosophies of these extraordinary adventurers while also showing their fragility and their ability to free themselves in an existential search for themselves. At the back of the stage, Ouramdane reconstructs a climbing wall from which the performers launch their flights and where they are exposed to rain and wind. A magnificent natural landscape is projected onto a large screen, in which the bodies hover between the exhilaration of heights and the fear of falling.



Artistic team

Rachid Ouramdane - conception

Jean-Baptiste Julien - music

Jean-Camille Goimard - video

Stéphane Graillot - lighting

Camille Panin - Costumes

Sylvain Giraudeau - stage management

Laurent Lechenault - sound engineering and interlocking

Juliette Bones - Tour Manager

Realized by

Joël Azou, Airelle Caen, Charlie Hession, Nathan Paulin, Maxime Seghers, Nina Caprez, Löric Fouchereau, Chloé Frappat, Peter Freeman, Owen Winship