Jeu de la vie

(The game of life in English)

Jeu de la vie is a trio performed by Oly Dion, Jane Millette, and Clara Truong, choreographed by Apolline Saulnier.

Is it not paradoxical that a game is so enjoyable precisely because it relies on rules? Rules that, despite everything, allow for a form of freedom , the freedom to play. They open up a field of possibilities, drawing a path toward a goal: to win, to create, to evolve. To achieve this, one only needs to draw from a cunning part of ourselves, an inventive part. The game ignites our imagination, pushes us to surprise ourselves. And to win.

But the Game of Life is different: it has no opponent. It is a one-player game. No competition, only a desire to observe. To contemplate what the present moment causes in the future, what the past has set into motion. It is a matter of time, evolution, and consequences. Observing movement, creation, disappearance. Appreciating proximity and distance. Noticing connections, neutralities. Accepting that complexity, duality, and paradoxes themselves can generate a form of satisfaction, a beauty, an amusement.

And gradually, an external gaze emerges. The human being, as an attentive observer, becomes absorbed by the precision of this mechanism. They search for recurring patterns, marveling at the emergence of symmetry within disorder. Powerless, they witness a shift between harmony and chaos. Their mind becomes unsettled while trying to understand a logic that was already established. They failed to predict this proliferation born from a minimal essence. Yet only two rules govern this evolution. Disoriented, they search for a new logic within an existing structure. And from this, complexity emerges.

So, how can dance translate this? How can it embody appearances and disappearances, proximities, zones of neutrality, this duality? How can a danced duo reveal other mechanisms, other games, other forms of creation? I could say that there is life within dance, and dance within life. If I embrace this idea, then I can affirm that dance is built upon these same foundations: play, rules, concepts, mechanisms, disappearances… and above all, the unexpected.
This dance… is about creating surprise.
It is about disarming complex situations.
It is about accepting that evolution does not always come from us, but that it may have already been chosen before. Then, we must find satisfaction in it, compose with it, trust it. Have faith in this beautiful evolution. Regardless of its destination.
The duality between logic and instinct. The absurdity that emerges from paradoxes. Beginning with a solid structure, carried by a clear concept. But behind this rigidity, another depth reveals itself, somewhere between subtlety and eccentricity. Because dance that takes itself too seriously should sometimes allow its subconscious to breathe. The seemingly black-and-white picture then becomes filled with colors, through the sole force of movement. It is a game of appearances, perspectives, and perception. A Game of Life.