Artistic events

Vincent Dupont & Charles Ayats – No reality now

Combining virtual reality and physical bodies, No reality now styles itself as a witchcraft ritual. Spanning the gamut of sensations courtesy of digital, this one-of-a-kind creation endeavours to ward off death.

‍”What if there were other realities to which we had no access? Other lives, other worlds, other deaths, as close as they are imperceptible.”

No reality now is an experience that combines dance on stage and virtual reality. It invites us into an afterlife – inaccessible, unfathomable, unintelligible, like the very death it ventures to stage.

On stage, a funeral wake is surprised by a thunderstorm. The rain intensifies, the light flickers. And suddenly, the image appears. You’re not dreaming: your virtual reality headset invites you to live a parallel experience… As you visualize yourself sitting in the same place, the virtual copy of the scene distorts and takes its liberties, proposing a double reading of the play. A dialogue then begins between these two visions, like a diptych or a confrontation, expanding their own fields of resonance.

Working with immersive experience designer Charles Ayats, choreographer Vincent Dupont reactivates one of his previous pieces, Souffles, in No reality now. Betting on the complementarity of virtual reality and live performance, the two artists not only “augment” this 2010 creation, they also offer two simultaneous versions, between which spectators are free to move.

No reality now is an experience that combines dance on stage and virtual reality. It invites us into an afterlife - inaccessible, unfathomable, unintelligible, like the very death it ventures to stage. On stage, a funeral wake is surprised by a thunderstorm. The rain intensifies, the light flickers. And suddenly, the image appears. You're not dreaming: your virtual reality headset invites you to live a parallel experience... As you visualize yourself sitting in the same place, the virtual copy of the scene distorts and takes its liberties, proposing a double reading of the play. A dialogue then begins between these two visions, like a diptych or a confrontation, expanding their own fields of resonance. Working with immersive experience designer Charles Ayats, choreographer Vincent Dupont reactivates one of his previous pieces, Souffles, in No reality now. Betting on the complementarity of virtual reality and live performance, the two artists not only "augment" this 2010 creation, they also offer two simultaneous versions, between which spectators are free to move.
Excerpts from the residency © Thibault Gabet || “Souffles” – Vincent Dupont © Marc Domage || VR artistic direction © Florian Salabert |
Excerpts from the residency © Thibault Gabet || “Souffles” – Vincent Dupont © Marc Domage || VR artistic direction © Florian Salabert |
Excerpts from the residency © Thibault Gabet || “Souffles” – Vincent Dupont © Marc Domage || VR artistic direction © Florian Salabert |
Excerpts from the residency © Thibault Gabet || “Souffles” – Vincent Dupont © Marc Domage || VR artistic direction © Florian Salabert |
French tour 2023-2024
2024-2025

Biennale Chroniques / Pavillon Noir, Aix-en-Provence
Octobre Numérique, Théâtre d’Arles

Credits

Design – Vincent Dupont and Charles Ayats

Distribution
Choreography and set design – Vincent Dupont
Performance – Elsa Dumontel, Lazare Huet, Mey Provost
Lighting design – Yves Godin
Sound design – Vanessa Court, Maxime Fabre
Voice work – Valérie Joly
Costume design – Eric Martin
Costume design – Hélène Martin Longstaff, Didier Despin
Artistic collaboration – Myriam Lebreton
Set construction – Sylvain Giraudeau
Stage Manager – Sylvain Giraudeau ou Anne Wagner Dit Reinhardt
Sound engineer – Brice Kartmann
Lighting engineer – Iannis Japiot
Network and Stage Manager – Thibaut Le Garrec
VR Manager – Anastasiia Ternova

Digital experience realization
Conception dispositif scène augmentée | Small Creative
‍Creative Technologist | Jean Dellac
VR art director | Florian Salabert
Tech artist | Pierre Didier
Developers | Sofiane Tihdaini et Pierre Roquin

VR accessories design – YouFactory
PROTOTYPE: Developer | Guillaume Depestèle || 3D ARTIST | Nicolas Brunet

A production
J’Y PENSE SOUVENT (…) | Marion Gauvent, Alexandra Servigne
DARK EUPHORIA | Mathieu Rozières, Marie Albert, Raphaël Chênais, William Board, Céline Delatte

Co-producers live performance‍
Lieu Unique – Nantes national stage
Théâtre Nouvelle Génération – CDN de Lyon
Center National de la Danse – Pantin
Center des Arts scène conventionnée d’intérêt national – Enghien les Bains, where Vincent Dupont is associate artist until 2023
CNDC – Angers
ICI-CCN Montpellier – Occitanie / Pyrénées Méditerranée
Espace des Arts – scène nationale de Chalon-sur-Saône
Théâtres d’Arles

No reality now is supported by

CHIMÈRES program of the French Ministry of Culture – DGCA, supported by Lieu Unique scène nationale de Nantes, Théâtre Nouvelle Génération – CDN de Lyon, Espace des Arts scène nationale de Châlon-sur-Saône and CND – Centre National de la Danse.

The French government as part of the Scènes augmentées project, financed by the #France2030 scheme “Augmented experience of live performance”, operated by the Banque des territoires.

CNC, Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée – DICRéAM
South region
Île de France region
City of Paris
ArTeC – this work has benefited from State support managed by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche under the Investissements d’avenir program (ANR-17-EURE-0008)

CONCEPTION

‍Vincent Dupont et Charles Ayats

PRODUCTION

J’Y PENSE SOUVENT (…) | Marion Gauvent, Alexandra Servigne

DARK EUPHORIA | Mathieu Rozières, Marie Albert, Raphaël Chênais, William Board, Céline Delatte

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