The genesis of ULYSSE MARION is above all a story of encounters. It is a project that gradually took shape through collaborations, friendships, and shared artistic experiences. I first met Marion Barbeau in 2015 through the 3ème Scène of the Paris Opera, for which I was then artistic director. The idea was to invite artists from very different backgrounds to imagine projects connected to the institution… I first observed her in the studio, and I was immediately struck by her presence, her strength, and her singular personality. She possesses a kind of determination, freedom, and intensity that permeates both her dancing and her way of being.
My encounter with Ulysse Zangs is more recent. He was passing through Los Angeles, where I live part of the year, and we spent time together in the studio without any particular objective at first, simply with the desire to see what might emerge from the meeting. I was immediately moved by his universe, both as a dancer and as a musician and composer. At that time, I had become increasingly interested in the form of the solo and in what it reveals about a performer… How does one tell the story of a journey, of memories, dreams, an entire life in dance, through a single body?
When I began imagining a project with Marion and Ulysse, I never conceived of bringing them together as a duo. What interested me instead was placing two singular trajectories side by side. Both share a training at the Paris Opera and exceptional careers as performers, yet their sensibilities, imaginaries, and artistic paths are profoundly different. I wanted to create a work grounded in who they are today: two artists at the height of their craft, bearers of immense memory and of a deeply personal relationship to their art. — Dimitri Chamblas
For the American premiere of his new work ULYSSE MARION, choreographer Dimitri Chamblas transforms REDCAT’s audience-theatrical setup into a vast open space that will, paradoxically, engender a feeling of intimacy with his performers—emotions unfettered, movement unencumbered.
The work began with long periods of studio research made up of conversations, improvisations, and experimentation… With Marion, for instance, we revisited certain exercises learned at a very young age, technical gestures repeated thousands of times throughout her training. What interested me was not the exercise itself, but what it signified today. How does a movement learned at the age of ten resonate within the body of an adult artist? What traces does it leave? What memories does it awaken?
We also worked from memories of the stage. I asked her to think back to certain roles or duets that had marked her journey. From there, we imagined situations in which absent partners continued to exist through her body. How can one make a weight, a presence, or a relationship perceptible when the other person is no longer there? These questions nourished an important part of the work.
With Ulysse, the process followed different paths. We began from his musical practice, from his way of inhabiting movement, and from his deeply personal relationship to dance and performance. Once again, it was less a matter of inventing than of allowing something already present to emerge. Part of the work consisted in creating the conditions for that emergence, then organizing this material into form. — Dimitri Chamblas
ULYSSE MARION will be performed twice in Los Angeles. See link and info below for details.
ULYSSE MARION
Choreographed by Dimitri Chamblas in collaboration with dancers
Marion Barbeau and Ulysse Zangs
Tuesday and Wednesday, October 20 and 21, at 8 pm
REDCAT
631 West 2nd Street, downtown Los Angeles
Dimitri Chamblas quotations courtesy and © Studio Dimitri Chamblas.
Dimitri Chamblas, Ulysse Marion (2026), from top: Ulysse Zangs, photo © Arnaud Caravielhe; Marion Barbeau, photo © Laurent Philippe; Zangs, photo © ovvo; Barbeau, photo © Laurent Philippe; Zangs, photo © Arnaud Caravielhe; Barbeau, photo © Aloïs Aurelle.
Photos courtesy Studio Dmitri Chamblas.
