2009 + 2011 Lab Artists: Martin Chaput + Martial Chazallon / Projet In Situ

Martin Chaput studied at Les Ateliers de Danse Moderne de Montréal before moving to France in 1987, where he pursued his training with members of the companies of Dominique Bagouet, Viviane Serry, Bernard Glandier, and Sylvie Girot, among others. Martial Chazallon’s starting point for choreographic research began in South Africa where he researched the mechanisms of identity construction with art, around the work of the Ndebele painters with whom he created the performance Wake Up!. Since 2000, Chaput and Chazallon have joined forces and formed Projet in Situ as a means of creating performance projects that delve into urban and intimate corporealities.

In 2009, VPL introduced the French duo to Jason Treuting, an American composer and performer known for his work with the experimental percussion ensemble, So Percussion. In addition to his work with So, Jason performed improvised music with Simpl (a group with laptop artist/composer Cenk Ergun), QQQ (a quartet consisting of Hardanger fiddle, viola, guitar and drums), and a duo with composer/guitarist Steve Mackey. Treuting, Chaput, and Chazallon collaborated to develop a new work, Diorama.

Residencies to develop Diorama between Chaput, Chazallon, and Trueting were hosted through a partnership between Marlboro College and Vermont Performance Lab. Residencies included workshops, classes, recording studio sessions and informal performances that brought these artists together with professional dancers from the region, college-level dance students and general audiences in Marlboro, Vermont.

Diorama questions the fiction of a community gathered within the theater. Through residencies with VPL in 2009 and 2011, the artists were able to experiment with a group of dancers and community members to develop choreography and test the early ideas for this new work. Diorama premiered in May 2011 in Paris at the Centre National de la Danse – Pantin.

View Projet In Situ’s residency in 2015.