Dancing for Water, Climate and Biodiversity

Jade Verda, Justine Sène and Pauline Lida are the three co-founders of the artistic and activist collective Minuit 12. This dance company enhanced the 2023 edition of the Luxembourg Sustainability Forum with several extracts of their show “Écume”: a striking aesthetic, a sensitive link to speak to us differently about ecological issues. Here's a look back at these emotionally-charged moments, and a glimpse of a collective that's still making a name for itself.

INTERVIEW

Sustainability MAG : Your show was a common thread throughout the Luxembourg Sustainability Forum, with several performances punctuating the different sequences of the forum and concluding with a shared message. How did you experience the event?

Pauline Lida : For us, integrating art into the Luxembourg Sustainability Forum was an opportunity. Being so well integrated into the program is a first and makes total sense. It's important for us to be present at conferences like this, because the concerns we raise are the same. We believe they can also be approached through the body and the senses, so the message is perhaps stronger that way. Walking away with emotions and sensations is what we remember. We ourselves feel emotions when we dance, and we had a great time at the Luxembourg Sustainability Forum, with very good vibrations.

You are often described as "artivists". What is the raison d'être of your collective and how did you come up with the idea for its creation?

Jade Verda : Minuit 12 was born in 2021. Its creation was initially a response to a personal need. We wanted to talk artistically about subjects that affected us. So we started with the subjects of biodiversity and water, which gave rise to our creation "Écume". That was our foundation, around which we began to bring together different artists committed to the environmental cause.

Pauline Lida : Today, the collective is a mix of different artists: dancers, composers and set designers. For example, Ines, who was also present at the Luxembourg Sustainability Forum, is a beatmaker and composed all the music for "Écume". We have this desire to link the arts together and not set boundaries. Together, we want to put our creations at the service of our causes. We define ourselves as an artistic and activist collective. We quickly realised that there was a demand from the public. We got reactions we hadn't expected. People were saying: "You talk about a reality we already know, but you bring a new way of perceiving it". That's what really propelled our adventure.

Have you always danced to get a message across?

Pauline Lida : I trained as a classical and jazz dancer. I studied dance in the United States, where it was essentially a search for technical improvement. It was only when I started choreographing and creating stories that I was able to move towards themes that spoke to me. Initially, it wasn't a militant desire to dance. But the subjects imposed themselves and my dance became richer in meaning.

Justine Sène : For my part, I started dancing when I discovered waacking, a dance that originated in the 1970s in Afro-Latino gay clubs in the United States. It's a very assertive dance, a means of expression for these communities. It's a space of freedom. Thanks to this dance, I found meaning in what I was doing.

Tell us about the power of dance. How is the aesthetic of dance a particularly effective means of conveying a message?

Justine  Sène : To get involved and move forward today, we all need a sensitive connection. The figures have been known for years. If numbers were enough to make a difference, we would have made the necessary changes a long time ago.

Art is a vehicle for stories and images. Dance is about creating emotional links to natural environments. By reconnecting with our flesh, we gain motivation. It can trigger a desire for commitment. It's the creation of this emotional link through dance that is important to us.

Jade Verda : Yes, and movements have the power to transmit. When you are watching someone dance, you feel like dancing, and your brain even imagines dancing. It's an engaging practice that gets people moving. Our vocation is also to practice participatory dance and open collective performances in the public space, dancing and using one's body. Many people are deeply concerned by environmental issues, and for them, the invitation to get involved through movement resonates positively, and is a source of hope. This is also the idea behind our short film "On n'arrête pas un peuple qui danse" (You can't stop a people from dancing).

What topics are you particularly keen to discuss today?

Pauline Lida : We talk a lot about environmental issues because we are aware that they will amplify existing social problems. By taking an interest in the environment, we touch on many other themes.One of the issues that also drives us is commitment. We're currently working on our new piece, which explores this notion, this desire to say "STOP" when we're collectively not going in the right direction. In short, to be a dissonant voice and redirect the course of things. We perform in a wide variety of venues. Our aim is to "get out of the theaters" and appeal to different audiences because these issues concern everyone.

Your show "Écume", which you have just defined as your founding creation, and excerpts of which were showcased at the Luxembourg Sustainability Forum, deals with the theme of water. Why did you choose to raise awareness on this subject?

Pauline Lida : This subject, like all the themes we deal with, wasn't the result of any reflection, but rather it imposed itself on us, because it touches us. As it happens, I began imagining this creation during the period of lockdown. It was a quest for meaning at a time when everything was sorely lacking it. I've always been fascinated by water from an aesthetic and choreographic point of view. When you think about water, many environmental issues come to mind. We understand the role it plays in life on Earth and the impact we can have. This subject fascinates me and worries me at the same time. This cocktail of emotions forms the basis of this creation. We then worked on it collectively, incorporating our own questions and interests. We also met experts on the subject. We fed off this information and it influenced our artistic process. This was our first complete production: writing, choreography, costumes, and music.

What will Minuit 12 be creating next?

Jade Verda : Our next creation is entitled "La Baston". It's the story of a team of five women who form a civil disobedience collective. We physically explore actions such as linking people together during blockades and dislodging by the forces of law and order. These are non-violent actions choreographed in soft bodies. We draw our inspiration from the social reality we want to translate onto the stage.

Pauline Lida : Our big project is also to open the dance space. Shaking up performance spaces is at the heart of the collective: breaking down the boundaries between the institutional world and militancy. We want to take this aspect further. Today, our work also takes the form of photo and video creations. For example, we produced the "Magma" project, including a short film, an exhibition, a festival, and an artistic tour of Paris. We're always on the lookout for ways to collaborate with as many artists as possible. We're not a closed collective. As soon as we get off the beaten track, we discover people who want to join us and put what they love at the service of what moves them. In this way, our projects grow and so does our collective.<