Frédéric Gies ^(SWE) Terpsichore in Scorpio - Deposition 2-3 May 2025

Programme

An intimate portrait, a love letter to dance and a journey in and out of all the identities and memories accumulated by, and in, a body in motion. Frédéric Gies moves through the decades with humour, authority and self-distance, using the sediments left by dances he has danced or seen. The preserved and decomposed dance materials preserved in Gies' body become fertile soil for new dances.

In Frédéric's horoscope, the asteroid Terpsichore is in Scorpio. Scorpio symbolises death, rebirth and transformation, and Terpsichore is linked to deep emotional experiences. The year 2021, when the work premiered, was also the year when the asteroid Terpsichore returned to the place in the sky where it was when Frédéric was born.

"Terpsichore in Scorpio - Deposition was shown on the small stage of Dansens Hus in 2022, and is now coming back to meet the audience again.

Frédéric Gies on "Terpsichore in Scorpio - Deposition.

I started to work in the dance field thirty years ago, in the fall 1991. In Terpsichore in Scorpio - Deposition, I offer my body as a living, somatic archive of thirty years of dance - thirty years of dance that occurred not only on stage or in the studio, but also on the dance floors where I danced for countless hours. The dances that constitute this piece originate in my deepest kinesthetic memories, in the sediments left by movements I have danced or seen. The sometimes intact, sometimes putrefying dance materials contained in my body constitute the fertile soil for new dances. In the title, deposition refers to the legal term for a written document consisting of the testimony of a witness.
Scorpio, in astrology, represents death, rebirth, transformation and regeneration. It is associated with deep emotional experiences. Terpsichore refers to the Greek muse of dance and to the asteroid Terpsichore. In the fall 2021, this asteroid returns to its placement in the sky when I was born.