Dance Among the Water Lilies • Anna Chirescu & Grégoire Schaller, Ordeal by Water, Site-specific version

Ordeal by water, aqua frigida judicum, was a medieval form of divine judgment consisting of plunging the accused – often a woman suspected of witchcraft – into water. If she sank, she was declared innocent, if she floated, she was believed to possess magic powers and declared guilty. Etymologically, the term refers to the notion of testing. The piece draws a parallel between such medieval judgments and contemporary perceptions of the athletic body, exploring a whole range of relationships to physical constraints in order to show a body losing its specifically human form.

Having already danced Merce Cunningham’s Event in the Salle des Nymphéas, Anna Chirescu returns to the Museum, accompanied this time by visual artist Grégoire Schaller and musician Simon Déliot. 

Design: Anna Chirescu and Grégoire Schaller
In collaboration with Simon Déliot
Performers: Anna Chirescu and Simon Déliot
Choreography: Anna Chirescu
Sound: Simon Déliot
Costume: Darius Dolatyari-Dolatdoust and Cathy Garnier
Produced by: Elissa Kollyris

Support: Ménagerie de Verre, Paris; Théâtre des Calanques, Marseille;  Maison Populaire, Montreuil; National Dance Center (CND), Pantin.

This project was the winner of the 2023 Regional Fund for Emerging Talent (FoRTE) financed by the Île-de-France Region. 

Production created on October 25, 2023 at the Ménagerie de Verre, Paris, as part of Les Inaccoutumés Festival.