TÉLÉRAMA / April 10th, 2002

KINGS

The trade reined in … to dance.

In front of Théâtre Paris-Villette, a man wearing black paramilitary sportswear is waiting with a muzzled rottweiler at his feet. Light Vigipirate plan? The martial attitude and the obvious loneliness of the security agent apparently unoccupied enshroud him with a dark sparkle. A few minutes later, Patrice Pascouau, professional dog trainer, steps as he is on the stage of KINGS by Michel Schweizer, in which he is a provider along with a boxer (Olivier Robert), a dancer (Lee Black), a vegetable and fried egg impersonator (Patrick Robine, so impressive!)… He displays, like on a distance selling brochure, his freelance job with an ironic lucidity. He makes us laugh, he sends us chills, he moves us all at the same time. In a Marcel Duchamp ready-made way, his presence onstage, as coldly explosive as bomb always about to explode, puts on the same level all the expertise and presents as performative as job often unappreciated. To shift the art front on the social side in a “real life” style: a record that a lot of artists, whether visual artists, directors or choreographers, haven’t changed for a few years now.

Rosita Boisseau