From 5 to 26 July, France will host the Avignon Theatre Festival, the largest live arts event in Europe. Ukrainians have also joined the event. On 9 July, the festival programme featured the premiere of a performance by Ukrainian choreographer Olha Dukhovna. RFI reports on this in Ukrainian on its website.
Choreographer Olha Dukhovna is originally from Dnipro. She has been living in Europe for over 15 years and currently works in France. In Avignon, Olha will present the performance A Show That the Law Will Recognise as Mine (French: Un spectacle que la loi considérera comme mien).
Olha collaborates with lawyer and copyright expert Pauline Lejeune to create original movements composed of thousands of others in a real-time dance performance. Based on the expert’s responses, the choreographer constructs a live piece before the audience’s eyes.
Drawing on legal frameworks and using the tools of artistic expression, the performance’s creator explains to the audience what constitutes plagiarism and explores the boundary between quotation, satire, cultural heritage and copyright infringement.
“I want to send a special message to Ukrainians right now. It is very important to me that I am working at the Avignon Festival because I want to show that what we are doing is Ukrainian culture. First, it exists. Second, it is very powerful. And we can talk not from the position of a victim,” says the choreographer.
The Avignon Festival, one of the oldest and most renowned theatre forums in the world, was founded by the distinguished French actor and director Jean Vilar, who also established the Marseille National Popular Theatre (Théâtre National Populaire (TNP)). The festival takes place every July in the medieval city of Avignon in Provence, where performances are held outdoors in city squares. The courtyard of the Papal Palace traditionally serves as the main auditorium for the forum.