Inspired by Jean Painlevé’s 1965 documentary Les Amours de la Pieuvre, this project was born from a desire to develop a world and a dance that evoke the octopus — but more importantly, the imaginary realm it suggests. Recalling Hokusai’s print The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife (1814), we draw particularly on its erotic, strange, and even monstrous qualities.
Transposed literally into the body, the mouth becomes a suction cup, and the tongue resembles a tentacle buried within — a body in love with an octopus.
Les amours de la pieuvre is conceived as an immersive performance-installation, where performers and audience share the same level, moving within a common space.
Seeking an experimental form that is visual, acoustic, and performative, the work explores a choreographic and sonic writing in which body and sound interact in real time. The space becomes a laboratory where gesture-sound is openly crafted — a place where the body is dissected through sound.
Research, creation & Performance Rebecca Journo
Concept & sound creation Mathieu Bonnafous
Research, creation & Performance Véronique Lemonnier, Mathieu Bonnafous, Jules Bourret, Rebecca Journo
Creation costumes Coline Ploquin
Scenography & accesories Rebecca Journo, Véronique Lemonnier, Jules Bourret
Construction of objects and lighting Jules Bourret
Artistic collaboration and outside view/ear Raphaëlle Latini
Voice work Valérie Joly
Metal accessories manufacturing Florent Seffar
General management Véronique Lemonnier
Production La Pieuvre
Coproduction et support L'échangeur CDCN Hauts-de-France - KLAP Maison pour la danse - Micadanses - Théâtre Le Colombier · Bagnolet - Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis - Laboratoire Chorégraphique de Reims - La Fileuse Friche artistique - Le Regard du Cygne - Lisière, lieu de création artistique - Théâtre Auditorium Poitiers, Scène nationale - La Pop
Public partners Ministère de la Culture - DRAC Île-de-France, Région Île-de-France, Département de la Seine Saint Denis et de la Caisse des Dépôts
