In Les Marées Sèches, I choose to invite algae to coexist and cohabit with a female performer in the performative space. Algae are the only plant specie which connect us to the ocean world. However, because of intensive agriculture, their proliferation on the Brittany coasts has become harmful and created political scandals and conflicts.

The work is choreographic, visual and alive at the same time: it aims to blur the boundaries between dance, performance, and installation. The attempt of having two species on an equal footing implies adjusting the presence of the performer in a “choreographic” work. Traditionally, choreography used to show the virtuosity and the beauty of bodies in movements, in an anthropocentric way. Here, I use this friction, this paradox, to extend the notion of choreography, and leave space for algae to reveal their own performativity.

The performance’s temporality is defined according to the tidal cycle: 6 hours and 12 minutes, which is the lapse of time between the lowest tide to the highest tide. The choice of this duration allows the performer to alter its state of consciousness and adopt the life rhythm of coastal algae; it is also an act of resistance against the acceleration of our lives and the productivity-driven mindset, which reduces our capacity of listening to other living beings.

I want to reflect on how the medium of choreography can engage with ecological issues. This performance is not only about ecology, or using ecology as a theme or as a metaphor. Ecology in this project is considered in different perspectives, both as the content and the form, both as a political engagement and a sensitive experiment.