Featuring Thibault Monnier
When a superbly tall and superbly talented male figure finds himself in the world of dance, the heads turn. Coming from a little village in Southern France, an occupation as a dancer was not what every little boy dreamt of, even Thibault, but somehow he got whisked into the fantastic world of dance and found his soul resting in this colourful and exquisite reality where the dreams are painted and sown together for the major performances at the stages around the world. Say hello to Thibault Monnier.
Thibault is currently working at the Finnish National Ballet, in Helsinki, Finland, as a dancer, training mainly in ballet. He is also an aspiring choreographer exploring other styles while still holding on to the classical training as the base.
As a choreographer Thibault sees his work very similar to painting: "Choreography has very superficial and beautiful esthetic goals and ideals but at the same time it has meanings and hidden messages".
When Thibault starts his work, he sits in the space thinking of the overall picture, the geometric and the mathematical patterns the dance movements create on the space and stage. It is interesting to follow how the movement patterns evolve into communication with other dancers and how the geometrical shapes are formed in space. The beauty arises from all the dancers being able to deeply understand these patterns and the space requirements and being able to create the choreography into reality with the changing positioning in sometimes surprising forms.
Via his work as a choreographer and dancer, Thibault likes to challenge his audience. "Choreographer reaches out to the audience with presenting versatility in movement and exploring choreography as in overall physical aspect of the movement and the whole picture" by his own words. Thibault has created his particular movement language to keep the audiences awake and satisfied, who seek a little more than just entertainment. The communication arises from the focus point of making art, which is the viewer.
For Thibault art is a big community and sometimes the person doesn't even realize he is experiencing art. Being part of something by a chance, connects people and keeps art alive. Beautiful philosophy, and so true.
-The video feature from the artist is coming out soon.
Text and photos: Rigulio Graak @rigulio_graak_art www.LoveGraak.com
