Avignon 2010: Celebrating the Body—Singular and Collective

The 2010 edition of the Festival d’Avignon stayed true to its mission of programming risky and often unsettling new works that tend to focus as much interest on performing bodies as on recited texts. A substantial part of the program was devoted to works by this year’s artistes associés, Christoph Marthaler and Olivier Cadiot. Another significant portion of the roster offered dance-theatre pieces by such choreographers as Alain Platel, Josef Nadj, Faustin Linyekula, and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Representing a new generation of experimental creators for the stage were Philippe Quesne, Gisèle Vienne, and the Groupe de Recherche Artistique (GdRA).