Unusual artist, a tad provocative, a bit iconoclast, Michel Schweizer, familiar to performance, invited an uncategorizable show programmed at îles de danses 2002. Uncategorizable and generous, he debunks misconceptions.

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The idea for « Kings » started with the meeting of a young boy so enthused by boxer Mike Tyson that the channel Canal+ brought him to England to interview his idol. “I offered him to tell this story onstage. I started working on our relation in an introspective and respectful manner around the idea that it is useful to plunge people into a face to face without shadows onstage.” With him come an ex-dancer fro Regine Chopinot, a hip-hop dancer, a tap dancer, a dog trainer… Slices of the lives of “kings” of a night, “Kings” diverts the principle of reality show by transposing it to the performance system. The project was selected based on an application file for Bagnolet. Michel then prepared a half an hour show and found himself – strange memory he says – at gymnase Maurice-Bacquet with a new UFO – a deliberately unidentifiable object that received support and gained new partners. The content is an exhibition with autobiographical material, but “Kings” is tightly written, negotiated with the people and built to please. Mixing reality with performance on different degrees is troubling also for the performers;” In short, a cultural object that, to this extent has a market value.

Introduce a new way of looking at things

Michel hired then a dog trainer to watch it, “according to a very simple partition, a precise stroll, until the dog bites a corner of the dance mat, scandalizing some audience members. Skillfully paced in time and space, it’s a disruption element that galvanize tension.”

Our iconoclast intends to make fun of “the relation stakes between art, politics and economics”. He hopes that by troubling the audience member, he will introduce a new way of looking at things, free from the prejudices about boxers.

Bernadette Bonis