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Éric Oberdorff’s Compagnie Humaine which touches us systematically without the shadow of a false note, by the spirituality inhabiting his work... - BALLROOM -

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From the outset, one is struck by the scope and the sensitive emotional commitment of the work of this choreographer unclassifiable in the world of dance... - DANSER -

Éric Oberdorff, the choreographer who shakes up preconceived ideas. His performances go beyond the stage to the streets, prisons, museums, schools, working-class neighbourhoods, factories and retirement homes. Able to sweep away preconceptions about contemporary dance, he makes this art form a means of expression within everyone's reach. - VISAGES DU SUD -

Making utopia a reality, that's what the Compagnie Humaine is all about... Often present where we least expect it, the choreographer's work is a constant search for humanity and sharing in the face of the harshness of the world, a quest sprinkled with modern poetry... - LA STRADA -

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Having started its activities in September 2003, the Compagnie Humaine gathers artists of all backgrounds to develop ambitious interdisciplinary projects. Its choreographer and director Éric Oberdorff creates in a subtle way pieces with universal themes putting human being at the heart of creation. The Compagnie Humaine has produced more than fourty projects for stage, screen or alternative spaces which are performed on tour in France and abroad.

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Recognized actor of artistic and cultural lives on its territory, the Compagnie is attached to the democratization of contemporary dance and very committed in the socio-cultural fabric. Its artists are also strongly involved in their missions of education, training and transmission, particularly for the youngest and for people in a situation of social fragility. In 2024, Compagnie Humaine’s artists have given more than 500 hours of workshops for 4300 participants.

 

The Compagnie Humaine carries out projects that highlight the strong and privileged relationship with music that Éric weaves into his creative work and his writing. He has especially the desire to put musicians and singers into play and into movement together with the dancers. His training and performance career in major opera houses have fostered his curiosity and interest in exploring new paths and possible relationships. Éric never stops looking for, experimenting with and reinterpreting in his projects the possibilities of putting into body and movement not only all the performers, whatever their original discipline of expression, but also the sets and props. To do this, he surrounds himself with the creators and artists who collaborate in the projects of the Compagnie Humaine, with whom he has

developed a strong artistic bond, but he also goes to meet other movement disciplines such as the circus.

 

This singular signature and his expertise provoked artistic encounters and convergences, wether for the creations of the Compagnie Humaine or for works commissioned by opera houses and instrumental and vocal ensembles in France and abroad, such as the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (creation of the opera Seven Stones composed by Ondřej Adámek on a libretto by Sjón, “powerfully original work“ - Libération newspaper), the Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur (operas Phaéton, Noye’s Fludde, The Olympiade of the Olympiades), the music ensembles Les Paladins, Resonanz and Matheus, the vocal ensembles ChorWerk Ruhr, Les Métaboles or N.E.S.E.V.E.N., the company's long-term partner. 

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Éric’s works have won numerous international awards, including the 2018 Fedora-Generalli Prize and the Golden Lion at the Biennale di Venezia – 2022 Biennale Musica.

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Keen photographer, and cinema enthusiast since ever, Éric has integrated a new dimension drawing from the arts of image into his choreographic process since more than twelve years. The use of filmed images allows him to develop hybrid and innovative narrative process. He considers the camera as a separate performer, whose moves are choreographed according to the dancers’ movements. Beyond the camera’s subjectivity that guides the viewer’s gaze, filmed images also allow through editing to have another relationship with time in the dramaturgical development of the work. His films are screened at festivals around the world and have received numerous awards. Eric extends this relationship to dance on screen with programming two international events which he co-founded: the Nice Dance Film, a selection of dance films in partnership with the European Short Film Festival of Nice (since 2018), and Mov’in Cannes, a dance film competition within the Festival de Danse Cannes Côte d’Azur France, of which he is artistic co-director (since 2023).

 

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prizes & nominations

1st Prize at the International Choreographic Competition of Hannover (2001, Germany) - duet Impression Lumière Fugitive 

nominated for the Kurt Jooss Prize (2007, Germany) - duet Absence 

Winner of the call for project “Identity, path & memories” - ACSÉ + EU Label (2008, France) - documentary film Petrushka's Journey

Award winner of the Beaumarchais-SACD's Grant (2009, France) - piece Another American Dream

1st Prize at the Cornwall Film Festival / “Dance Camera Action“ selection (2011, UK) - film Butterfly Soul

Prize Fedora-Generali 2018 - category Opera (international) - opera Seven Stones

Prize Lumière at the Festival Cinédanse (2019, Canada) - film On My Skin

Audience Choice Award at the Lights Dance Festival (2020, Canada) - film On My Skin

co-winner with composer Ondřej Adámek of the Goethe Institut's Virtual Residence Grant (2021, Germany) - piece Reaching Out

co-winner with BackLight, VR & XR creator, of the ICC Centre Européen d’Entreprises et d’Innovation (CEEI) / Métropole Nice Côte D’azur's call for project (2022, France) - VR experience La The Oceans Dance

Golden Lion - Best Production Award at the Biennale di Venezia - Biennale Musica 2022 (Italy) with composers Ondřej Adámek and Rino Murakami - piece Reaching Out