Delicate People

Delicate People is a project initiated by Ruth Childs and Cécile Bouffard to combine their respective dance and sculpture practices. Bouffard’s sculptures were designed to fit Childs’ body. A particular contour invites a movement, a grip, or a touch, a curve invites a caress. The dancer reacts to the shapes with her intuition, describing this sensation as a “graphic driving force”. Objects are made to be manipulated; they are the body’s partners. Holding them is a liberating act, an act of power that can reverse the situation at
any moment. Both artists are attracted by the unchanging nature of things and situations. This journey through movement, figures, and affects clearly creates narratives fuelled by shared interests.

The term “delicate” refers as much to illustrated figures (such as the hermit, the dropout, the nutcase, the non-conformist) as to the working process they develop. Bouffard and Childs seek to avoid being stuck in a choreographic narrative, but rather to be able to change direction, to change tack, to be deliberately quirky. It is in this intuitive logic of digression and deconstruction that they wish to free themselves from a traditional production and exhibition process that consists of rehearsing the same choreography. Their
approach is resolutely experimental.