Blank Placard Dance, replay

Din and dissonance, and resistance in the air. A procession of some 30 individuals marches through the downtown core carrying blank placards, silent signs held aloft by silent protestors. To intrigued passersby who ask what they are protesting against, the marchers turn the question back to them: What do you want to protest? A discussion ensues. Ideas circulate, protest takes root.

The French choreographer Anne Collod recreates the Blank Placard Dance, imagined in San Francisco in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam War by the legendary American artist Anna Halprin. A silent happening and an interactive walkabout, the original performance interrupted by the police has lost none of its topicality, confirming the relevance of the collective in an era of triumphant individualism. It legally attests to the evocative power of a blank space in an urban jungle oversaturated with messages. Reaching beyond the decades and the continents, the dialogue continues.

Produced by association …. & alters  in association with La Magnanerie (Paris)
Original work Blank Placard Dance (1967) by Anna Halprin
Artistic direction and reinterpretation Anne Collod
Artistic collaborator Cécile Proust
Live music Fanfare Jarry conducted by Charles Duquette

Co-presented by Partenariat du Quartier des spectacles

Presented with the support of Institut Français + Service de coopération et d’action culturelle du Consulat général de France à Québec

Written by Diane Jean
Translated by Neil Kroetsch
Promotional video Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris)

Premiered at Centre Pompidou Málaga, on February 20, 2016