Glitter

Choreographer Antonin Rioche has a mission. Antonin finds that in today’s world, people suffer from a great imbalance and dance is uniquely suited to establishing a connection between body and mind. In doing so, his work always explores a sense of loss and is an exercise in healing and about putting words on pain.

At an early age, Antonin’s mother gifted him with a great love for dance. He was certain that he wanted to become a choreographer, but to do so he felt that he should first become a good dancer. In his teens, he followed contemporary dance lessons. His interest was also sparked in art, cinema and theatre in this period. He continued his dance training at Ballet Junior of Geneva. This was at some risk because he had never followed ballet training before, only contemporary dance. They told him then that he would never dance with the big companies. Subsequently, he danced with choreographers such as Olivier Dubois and Sacha Waltz, Wayne McGregor, Marina Mascarell, and at Korzo with Ryan Djojokarso. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui invited him to create his first solo Oh Boy! for the Eastman Summer Intensive in 2017 which has been performed at Korzo, but also in Antwerp, Berlin, Paris, and Geneva. 

The first time Antonin walked into Korzo, he felt at home. For the NDT-Korzo event Here we live and now, he created The Others in 2018 and in 2019 Finally a sign of life. For 2021 he will create his first full-evening piece Glitter that will premiere at the CaDance festival.

Antonin immerses himself in universal subjects to then develop an entirely personal view. Before the moment of creation, Antonin has fully fleshed out his thoughts on the work before him. A text is always the starting point for a creation, making his process distinctly different from the way most choreographers work. His creative urgency comes from his conviction that an unseen absence is made visible, that there is an imbalance, to which he gives form. Then he places this in the framework of themes we can all relate to such as hope, love, fame, vulnerability or loneliness. With great sensitivity he listens to the people who he creates for. He sees the person in front of him and gives that person a voice. Physical theatre, dance and movement are the basis for expression, but not necessarily the point of departure. He loves to combine and open new horizons in art disciplines like theatre, cinema, music and visual arts.

In his work, that balance is crucial, to the point of being a leading principle. It concerns balance in many senses; a balance between technical virtuosity and the individual, between being heard and belonging, between parody and reality. Drawing from his own experiences as a freelance dancer and the constant struggle to feel safe in ever-changing configurations and cultures, he sees the struggle of contemporary man, and he fully embraces that struggle.