andante

Hôtel Meurice, 28 February 2008, 3pm : I am setting up the space in a deluxe Parisian hotel which has become a venue for performances during the time of a festival. I'm not on the square of Palais Royal, where artists gathered to react to governmental drastic cuts in the budget allocated to culture. I'm getting prepared to perform when some are in the name of all claiming the means to keep working. I am performing in a luxurious place when contemporary dance is in the street. A bitter taste of déjà-vu. I remember 2003 with the cancellation of festival montpellier danse and Festival d'Avignon backing up the actions of intermittents du spectacle in reaction to the reform of the part-time working compensation system they belong to. I remember that painful issue : does one have to cancel the performances, are there no other ways to make oneself heard, does one have to shoot oneself in the foot. I remember March 2006, I am a student at cndc in Angers, we decide to cancel the first day of open house to present our works and instead walk against the precariousness of "contrat premier emploi" ("contract first job") that the government proposed ; and Loïc Touzé initiated inside of the demonstration "masses" in which people get closer and hold together to let their bodies melt to the floor. As an answer with the body to a vision of society where the destitute would settle for putting on the interchangeable uniforms that great oligarches are offering them. Regression is happening in France. And the effects show of what has been afoot for some years within the policy for culture, everyday performers quit. The operation eradication of "too many artists in France" seems to be working. One could say the same in matters such as healthcare, education, research. And one can feel the return to a state-led paternalism which aims at dividing and ruling. So what ? have a May 2008 after May 1968 ? It is perfect timing since it is the 40th anniversary of the event but, even if I feel now its inheritance, it doesn't mean anything to me. I was born in 1977, two years after the decriminalization of abortion, 4 years before the abolition of death penalty in France. Each period of time each issues, each generation each references I guess. However I keep from that time when I was not yet born that the real opposing force lies in a cross-sector approach for claims : transgenerational, transprofessional, transindividual, to increase the number of opponents since this is now in numbers that everything has to be expressed. Then open up, look outside of one's own territory, take advantage of globalization, of internationalization, make information go around and take the one we receive from others. I am part of a generation sometimes easily considered disengaged. At least I feel myself working for finding ways to fight against the asthenia some would like to see us in. Jean-Baptiste Veyret-Logerias April 2008 text commissioned by review OBSCENA #11-12, April-May 2008