VALERIE OBERLEITHNER
artist choreographer | movement director | coach

The Rollin(g) Stones project is to support the inhabitants of the Pierre Rollin district in Amiens in its transformation, which will affect housing, public spaces, administrations, shops, the layout of roads and car parks, and cultural and sports facilities.
Rollin(g) Stones, built in conjunction with the Théâtre Jacques Tati, Amiens Métropole and the district's partners (artists, institutions, national education, donors, associations, etc.), is structured around three main lines of research:
OUR GROUND: what we walk on, what carries us
A work of investigation and research on the history of the soil, the history of the different periods of urbanization, the changes of populations in the neighborhood from its construction to the present day.
OUR TERRITORY: what allows us to subsist, what we are attached to
Based on the work of Bruno Latour (sociologist, philosopher), we will highlight that territory is not a physical, geographical territory, but individual and collective territories whose boundaries go beyond the boundaries of the neighborhood - ground.
OUR FUTURE: what we can imagine, what we will do with it collectively
By questioning the rituals of transition and drawing on the lives of the inhabitants, their histories, their cultures, we will create common rituals to symbolize and perform the geographical transformation of the neighborhood. The aim is to accompany the transformation of the land in an artistic, playful, shared and co-responsible way.

Valerie Oberleithner, Choreographer
Through dance and somatic practices, I worked with the residents of the Pierre Rollin district, on activating, mobilizing and raising awareness of everyone's bodies. Dance is a powerful tool for (re)meeting, sharing concerns, desires and pleasures. Encounters through dance have created a community of inhabitants, giving voice to their needs, demands, wishes and dreams. Together with Martine Marras, we initiated dance-photo activities in the Pierre Rollin neighborhood. Finding confidence and awareness through dance and photography, and reconnecting with the neighborhood through physical and mental action in a moment of change, is an essential part of this work.

Choreographic intentions
All the tools, scores and principles mentioned here can be taken, borrowed and stolen for reuse in other citizen projects. They are accessible to anyone interested in dance and choreography as a means of activating, raising awareness and (re)connecting with the environment. Feel free to test, explore and develop them.

Working on principles
From the outset, I wanted to work on the basis of principles rather than aesthetic objectives. It seems important to me to develop a set of tools, notes and principles that can be modified, developed and adapted to the personal needs of participants and residents. A process- rather than product-oriented working structure emphasizes the infinite character of dance, the sustainable way of living and working together, and values the human beings involved in the process. Working on the basis of principles defines a dynamic artistic process. Dance becomes a tool to be tested, rather than an aesthetic value to be achieved. How can dance support us in moments of crisis and change? What dances do we dance to connect with others, to connect with our environment?

"With" a community
It was less important for me to get the residents to dance and think in my own way, or to give them a ready-made choreography, than to enter into a relationship with them, in which they become the actors of the project. In search of contact, shared meaning and common understanding, I introduced principles and tools from the field of dance and choreography to the residents, and we tested and explored them together. By asking them for their favorite dances and working on the principles of improvisation and somatic practices, we created collective and individual dances together, which were performed inside and outside the residents' apartments.

Dance as a daily practice
Initially, I wanted to introduce dance as an everyday practice. By asking the residents what their favorite dances and music were, we started dancing as soon as I entered their homes. This practice was intended for everyone, with no exclusivity. We danced on chairs, we danced sitting down, we danced lying down, we danced standing up, we danced in a circle. I introduced exercises and practices to get the inhabitants moving one by one. Experiencing dance at home in an atmosphere of trust and pleasure is one of my deepest intentions. Our homes are loaded with codes, patterns and routine tasks. These daily rituals make us think in specific ways. Extending these rituals with the ritual of dance, activating and sensitizing the body, can help us create resilience in an unstable world.

Activation, awareness and re-connection
As a substantial score of dance activities in the Rollin district, I can discern the triangular relationships between activation, awareness and re-connection. Right from the start of our home sessions, we activate our bodies at muscular level, in space and with other people. Moving with eyes closed, working with touch, body weight and body senses, we sensitize our body and the body of a partner. Through improvisation and dance games in the apartments, we reconnect with each other, with our apartment, and prepare ourselves for the outside world. Outside, we initiate actions that help us (re)experience our neighborhood in a different way.

Dance before speech
Dance before words is the first principle of my choreographic work in the neighborhood. I've always asked residents to dance with me when I enter their homes or meet them in the street. Meeting people through dance has created a great deal of momentum and initiated various dance initiatives in the neighborhood.
It's important for me to first establish a physical relationship with the residents. This relationship is based on trust, sharing a moment of physical and mental well-being, and learning to dance.
Establishing dance as a daily practice seems relevant to me. Dance can help us initiate new ways of living everyday life and connect to our environment in a more open way.

Focus on encounters
One of my main concerns was to get into close contact with the people of Rollin. Dancing with residents in the street, during the L'île de bien- être days in June 2021, creating a discotheque on the town hall square, dancing for two years in residents' homes, are just a few of the different actions I've taken.

Sustainability
What's left after the Rollin(g) Stones project?
At the end of the book, you'll find drawings of dance exercises and practices to learn, repeat, reproduce and share with friends, family and others. In the second year of the project, the Rollin Dance Group was founded collectively by local residents.
This book serves as a memory of the moments we've spent together, the experiences we've shared. Situations, constellations and actions are memorized in all our bodies and can be reproduced again and again. We can share the book with relatives, friends and so on. Various friendships and encounters between residents have been activated and will continue after the project.

Frequency
It was very important for me to visit the Rollin district frequently. Even during the pandemic, I worked with the residents, always respecting health regulations. Being there on a regular basis allowed me to establish a deep, trusting, loving relationship with and between the residents. Dancing together, on a recurring basis, created an awareness of a shared process, progress and development.