2023
It starts with a vague sensation. Vertigo, malaise. Then comes a nauseous sensation that takes over the body, sending it reeling. Seasickness. Filipino-Swiss choreographer Mélanie Gobet came to know that state of being during her residency aboard the Bise Noire sailboat, but also ashore, in her relationship with her mother. The artist doesn’t know much about the latter’s experience of uprootedness, beyond the series of traits that she has inherited, like the urge to dance.
Mal de Mère merges the two women’s respective physical practices, country dance and performance, opening a space for dialogue, meeting and belonging. It is a way of walking in one another’s footsteps, and of reclaiming history through one’s body.
Laurence Wagner, Belluard Bollwerk
Festival Belluard Bollwerk, Fribourg, 27.06.23 (premiere)
Stage performance , 60′
concept and choreography in collaboration with the team Mélanie Gobet performance Janeth Gobet, Mélanie Gobet original music Annie Aries dramaturgical support Natasha Stegmann choreographic support Rebecca Weingartner lighting design and stage management Mario Torchio production Maxine Devaud / oh la la – performing arts production producing structure mg cie with the support of Stiftung Anne-Marie Schindler, Schweizerische Interpretenstiftung SIS
residencies Bise Noire – Residencies at sea granted by the Belluard Bollwerk, “Research and Development” Residency at Nouveau Monde, granted by the City of Fribourg co-production Belluard Bollwerk achieved thanks to an Encouragement for Culture from the Canton of Fribourg, presentation with the support of Pro Helvetia
Photos Julie Folly
2022
Casques aux oreilles, entrez dans la danse !
Mini Bubbles is a participatory performance designed especially for children aged 5 to 12. It takes place in public spaces and works to create a collective choreography by inviting children and their accompanying adults to join in the movement and dance. To do this, participants receive a silent disco headset that broadcasts simple choreographic instructions, which can be freely interpreted according to each person’s abilities and desires. To assist in this experience, interactions are proposed with a set design composed of balloons, allowing for playful encounters and an opening of the imagination in a light atmosphere, based on exchange, the pleasure of moving together, and the creation of a shared space.
Participatory Performance / Young audience show, 35′
Fête de la Danse, Fribourg, 11.05.22 (premiere)
Das Tanzfest, Basel, 12.05.22
Fête de la Danse, Gland, 13.05.22
Fête de la Danse, Rolle, 13.05.22
Fête de la Danse, Fribourg, 14.05.22
Fête de la Danse, Bulle, 14.05.22
Das Tanzfest, Aarau, 15.05.22
Fête de la Danse, Yverdon-les-Bains, 15.05.22
Représentations scolaires, Fête de la Danse, Fribourg, 08.05.23
FestiCheyres, Cheyres, 09.07.23
Foire du Valais, Martigny, 04.10.23
L’île de Pâques, Fribourg, 11.05.24
Représentations scolaires, Fête de la Danse, Fribourg, 03.05.24
Représentations scolaires, Fête de la Danse, Fribourg, 12.05 – 13.05.25
Concept, writing, choreography and French voice Mélanie Gobet German translation and voice Luisa Schöfer Sound (recording, editing, technical control) Frank Bongni Original music Grégoire Pasquier Production Maxine Devaud / oh la la – performing arts production Producing structure mg cie Co-production Fête de la danse Fribourg With the support of State of Fribourg, Loterie Romande, Swiss Foundation for Performing Artists (SIS)
Project selected for the 2022 “Out & About” tour of Das Tanzfest / La Fête de la Danse, RESO
Photos Etienne Francey (1-3), Yuri Pires Tavares (4)
Teasers FR DE Eve Senn
2021
i’m a loner speaks very simply about the chance encounter between Mélanie Gobet, who uses balloons in her artistic practice, and a community of balloon fetishists. This experience, tinged with humor and humanity, translates into an immersive spatial and sound performance, like an ode to balloons and their enthusiasts. Against a backdrop of fetishism and voyeurism, the performance also addresses themes of loneliness and encountering others, the pure joy of simple pleasures, childhood, and inner movement.
Stage performance, 50′
Espace Nuithonie, Villars-sur-Glâne, 01.07.21 – 04.07.21 (premiere)
Biennale des Arts Fribourgeois, Espace Nuithonie, Villars-sur-Glâne, 10.09.22 – 11.09.22
Biennale des Arts Fribourgeois, Bicubic, Romont, 18.09.22
Concept, text and choreography, in collaboration with the team Mélanie Gobet Performance Jade Albasini, Sarah Bucher, Eléonore Heiniger Voice-over Mélina Martin Sound design and control Frank Bongni Lighting design and control Mario Torchio Stage management Luc Perrenoud Dramaturgy Jean-Daniel Piguet Set design Antonie Oberson Costumes Marie Romanens Set sewing Sandra Baudois Set sewing assistance Julia Yerly
Producing structure mg cie Production Maxine Devaud / oh la la – performing arts production Co-production Equilibre-Nuithonie – Fribourg With the support of State of Fribourg, Loterie Romande, FLUXUM Foundation, PREMIO, Swiss Foundation for Performing Artists (SIS)
Photos Yuri Pires Tavares (1-2), Nicolas Brodard (3-5)
Teaser Cristina Gagnebin Müller
2021
A gloriously failed parade at the crossroads of dance, performance and installation. A tribute to the concept of spectacularity.
Fragments of Carnival. An old rave party beat. In the absence of a disco ball, they ignite to the construction site lights, revealing the delicate overlap between ‘discomfort’ and ‘euphoria’ in the act of joining the dance. Their inclination? To awaken a dark joy, a sense of belonging that drives the crowd to join the feast!
Charivari is the first collaboration between Jade Albasini and Mélanie Gobet, who met during their respective artistic residencies in Berlin.
Performance / Site-specific dance, 25′
Festival Hasard, Teatro Virtual, 12.12.20
Les Chorégraphiques#6,L’Oriental-Vevey, 13.01.21 (premiere)
Fête de la Danse Vevey, 08.05.21
Artist’s Choice – Curated by Mélanie Gobet, Fri-Son, Fribourg, 11.12.21.
Musée Laténium, Hauterive, 11.08.22
Théâtre Benno Besson, Yverdon-les-Bains, 04.10.22
Skatepark de Bouleyres, Fête de la Danse Bulle, 13.05.23
Concept and choreography Jade Albasini & Mélanie Gobet Performance (alternating) Jade Albasini, Léna Bagutti, Yel K. Banto, Johanne Closuit, Mélanie Gobet, Federica Normanno, Alex Kabuebue Musical arrangements My Name is Fuzzy Lighting design John-Michael Schaub Lighting control (alternating) Mario Torchio, Logan Duc Sound control Frank Bongni Producing structure mg cie Production Maxine Devaud / oh la la – performing arts production Co-production L’Oriental-Vevey Support Fri-Son Fribourg Residencies Dansomètre, CCDanse With the support of State of Fribourg, Loterie Romande, Fondation Nestlé pour l’art
Photos Romain Do (1-2), D.R (3)
2021
intestines is an aerial performance using balloons, but whose protocol and rigour are down-to-earth. 1 performer, 30 minutes, 1 bottle of helium, 36 balloons, and 12 beer cans: repetitive actions that challenge the spectator’s gaze in the face of a constantly evolving ‘body and set’ creation. Referencing the material used in the performance, intestines also reflects what happens on the inside: it addresses something about skin, something about sensuality, something about transformation, about exposure.
Performance, 30′
Festival Modaperf, Douala, Dschang, Yaoundé, CM (premiere), 15.11.19 – 24.11.19
Contradicciones, Casa Suiza de La Boca, Buenos Aires, ARG, 14.12.19
Lausanne Space Dance, Le Bourg, Lausanne, CH, 03.01.20
Festival EnCorpsEnSemble, Jardin Botanique Alpin, Meyrin, CH, 31.07.20
Südpol goes…, Sommer Café, Luzern, CH, 08.08.20
Festival Hasard, Teatro Virtual, Gate blueFactory, Fribourg, CH, 05.12.20
Solo-Festival, Wildwuchs Festival, Kaserne, Basel, CH, 28.05.21
Concept and performance Mélanie Gobet
Photos and teaser Bastien Bron
2019
During a research residency in Berlin, Mélanie Cerezo Gobet is confronted with a vertiginous sensation of boredom. To inhabit this void, she reactivates a previously explored performative gesture: blow to pop (B2P) — the act of inflating a balloon by mouth until it bursts.
Like a twisted mantra (“a balloon a day keeps the void away”), she imposes a simple protocol on herself: a balloon a day for 150 days. Each day, an explosion. Each day, a moment of tension, breath, and anticipation. She records data (size, shape, color, inflation time), archives the burst remains, and posts the videos on Instagram: @aballoonaday_.
Somewhere between daily ritual and absurd act, 150 days of b2p becomes a bodily journal — where the useless becomes necessary, where the futile becomes persistence and endurance, and where breath itself becomes a measure of time.
Performance / Installation, 150 days
Atelier “im Wedding”, Berlin, DE
Concept and performance Mélanie Gobet
Photos Julien Chavaillaz
Video documentation instagram.com/aballoonaday_
