Flocking is a phenomenon that occurs in nature and in the human world: birds fly in flocks in the sky, people gather... It is also a compositional form when reflections and shadows move in groups.
 
Regardless of place, time or origin, we are united in gatherings by a collective body language that commemorates the beginning of humanity. Flocking is made of movements that bring us together. The performance was inspired by a catalog of photographs collected by Joanne Leighton, a choreographer working in Paris, which captures various gatherings of people: protests, celebrations, rituals. It is a reflection of the world we live in.
 
For over a decade, Joanne Leighton has painstakingly collected various photographs of gatherings of people from different countries and cultures around the world. The choreographer uses this atlas of photos as a visual score from which she leans while creating a performance dedicated to the universal movements that unite us.
 
These pictures are embodied on stage by eight dancers, creating scenes of demonstrations, rituals, dance and fun. Their sign language is authentic and unadorned. The memories captured in the photos inhabit the dancers, and the music transports them to another time. Such choreography creates a very personal and empathetic relationship with the viewer.
 
The repetition, juxtaposition and layering of images on the stage creates a moving cartography, and the movement, although contemporary, seems to return the gestures that testify to the beginning of humanity. These movements unite us and form the basis of our humanity. The bodies in the performance, gentle or provocative, closed or open, balancing between chaos and static, create a powerful physical language that we immediately recognize and feel communion with.