One of the most influential and innovative figures in contemporary international dance, Boris Charmatz returns to the Romaeuropa Festival with his new work Muette. An intimate and radical experience that explores silence not as the absence of music, but as an emotional and physical space. In this minimalist solo: “We will listen to a dance that thunders silently,” the choreographer states, “Muette will be guided by what does not even pass through my lips, by what does not come out.”
Envisioned as a continuation of his previous solo SOMNOLE, Muette is an invitation to follow the almost invisible movement of a cry that cannot fully erupt, of a body that resists and absorbs violence in silence, of a bubble of saliva bursting at the corner of the lips. Former director of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and creator of 10000 gestes, Charmatz continues to explore dance as an essential act and as a direct relationship with the audience.
Boris Charmatz is a dancer, choreographer, and creator of experimental projects such as the ephemeral school Bocal, Musée de la danse, and Terrain. His research explores the contemporary body, bringing dance into unconventional spaces and developing hybrid formats that intertwine creation, repertoire, theory, and transmission. After studying at the École de Danse de l’Opéra de Paris and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Lyon, in 1993 he created his first work with Dimitri Chamblas, À bras-le-corps. This was followed by key pieces such as Aatt enen tionon (1996), enfant (2011) for the Cour d’honneur of the Festival d’Avignon, 10000 gestes (2017), and SOMNOLE (2021). Some of his works have entered the repertoire of the Paris Opera Ballet.
Author of essays and performer for artists such as Odile Duboc, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, and Tino Sehgal, he has presented his work worldwide, with retrospectives at MoMA in New York and Tate Modern in London. From 2009 to 2018 he directed the Musée de la danse / Centre chorégraphique national de Rennes et de Bretagne. In 2019 he founded Terrain, a choreographic experimentation project without walls or roof, embedded in urban space. From 2022 to 2025 he was director of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, where he developed a dialogue between his own research and the repertoire of Pina Bausch. In 2024 he was Artiste Complice of the Festival d’Avignon, presenting new creations and large-scale participatory projects.
Choreography and performance: Boris Charmatz
Assistant choreographer: Magali Caillet Gajan
Lighting: Yves Godin
Technical director: Fabrice Le Fur
Deputy director of Terrain: Hélène Joly
Production management: Lucas Chardon, Martina Hochmuth
Production coordinator: Briac Geffrault
Photo: Régi, Boris Charmatz, Tanzquartier Wien, 2005 © Alexander Wulz
Production and distribution: Terrain
With the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels
Cango Centro produzione della danza Firenze, CND – Centre national de la danse, Chaillot – Théâtre national de la Danse, Charleroi danse, Festival d’Avignon, ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, MC93 – Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis, Le Phénix – Scène nationale de Valenciennes, Romaeuropa Festival, Sadler’s Wells, Tainan Arts Festival, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
With the support of La Chartreuse de Villeneuve-lez-Avignon – Centre national des écritures du spectacle
In collaboration with La Briqueterie CDCN du Val-de-Marne, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Espace Pasolini
Terrain is supported by the Ministère de la Culture – DRAC Hauts-de-France and the Région Hauts-de-France. Boris Charmatz | Terrain is associated with the constellation of the Maison de la Culture d’Amiens.
