Empire of flora
Performed by four men and by a woman DJ, EMPIRE OF FLORA speaks of spring and of life beginning anew, of movement gradually emerging and finally exploding into an abundance of forms, energies, rhythms and spaces.
Our aim is to enable the audience to feel and experience the sensation of springtime through the choreographic structure, the dance and the music.
The performers become generators of energy, transmitters of desire and vitality, and the sensation of springtime becomes tangible and alive in their bodies.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, CHOREOGRAPHY: MICHELE MURRAY
ARTISTIC COLLABORATION: MAYA BROSCH, MARIE LECA
PERFORMERS: ALEXANDRE BACHELARD, BAPTISTE MENARD, MANUEL MOLINO, JULIEN-HENRI VU VAN DUNG
MUSIC: LOLITA MONTANA (DJ SET)
LIGHTS: CATHERINE NODEN
COSTUMES : ONGOING
Rehearsals open to audiences allow them to observe the intimacy of the choreographer and his/ her dancers at work. They are interactive, and include exchanges with audiences in attendance.
Duration: 1 hour
Free entry - port du masque obligatoire
Bookings: billetterie@ballet-de-lorraine.eu / T. +33 (0)3 83 85 69 08
Photo (c) Laurent Paillier
PLAY, a live art and dance company directed by Michèle Murray, brings artists with common artistic interests together, dealing with the body, movement and choreography.
Often linked to other art forms such as music, art, literature or fashion, the artistic research results in choreographies and live art performances for theaters, museums and other spaces.
The body as a starting point and support for each project, instant composition within strict choreographic grids, and research on the link between abstract, figuratiive and narrative forms are the main focus of the company’s artistic work.
Michelle Murray
MICHELE MURRAY is a choreographer and artistic director of the PLAY / Michèle Murray Company. A Franco-American national, she trained first in Düsseldorf in classical ballet , then in New York with Merce Cunningham and at Movement Research, later on with many teachers and choreographers in Paris before collaborating on various choreographic projects as a performer, notably with “l’art not least” in Berlin, Didier Théron in Montpellier and Bernardo Montet at the Centre Chorégraphique National de Tours. Since 2008, she has also been working as choreographic assistant with Didier Théron.
From 2000 onwards, she develops her personal work within the Michèle Murray Company, which becomes Murray / Brosch Productions in 2008, in artistic collaboration with Maya Brosch. She has created numerous works which have toured extensively in Europe .
In 2012, wishing to concentrate on projects dedicated primarily to dance and choreography, she founds PLAY / Michèle Murray, of which she is artistic director and choreographer, while researching in close collaboration with artist coworkers.
She creates the ATLAS / STUDIES, a “choreographic atlas” of ten short pieces for seven dancers, which is presented for the first time as a whole as part of the Festival Montpellier Danse 2018.
In 2020, she choreographs WILDER SHORES, a performance for six dancers with a musical composition by Gerome Nox for the Festival Montpellier Danse 2020.
She is currently working on the project EMPIRE OF FLORA, a dance performance for four dancers and a DJ, which will premiere in 2022.
She is also working on a project dedicated to museum spaces called DUOS – COLLISIONS AND COMBUSTIONS – A CHOREOGRAPHIC COLLECTION OR THE MUSEUM. The first work residency took place at the Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für Moderne Kunst – DKW Museum Cottbus, Germany, in the frame of the Dance in Residence Brandenburg program in 2021.
Michèle Murray also teaches dance and performance art. Her teaching is closely linked to her choreographic research.