Xavier Le Roy
born 1963 in Juvisy sur Orgelives and works in Montpellier
“We are trying to fragment the body, to get away from the image of the body as a whole, so that new images of it can emerge (...) We are looking for an image of the body reduced to many individual components, which are lacking the thing that holds them together.”
This quote which Xavier Le Roy published in reference to his dance piece Narcisse Flip in 1998 is a good explanation of what his work is about: the fragmentation of the body, in terms of perception and the identity of the dancing individual.
Le Roy initially studied biochemistry at Montpellier University, obtaining a PhD in molecular and cell biology in 1990. During his studies he started taking classes in contemporary dance with Ruth Barnes and Anne Koren. A series of very diverse projects followed, including cooperations with the Berlin performance group Detektor and the founding of Le Kwatt together with the musicologist Alexander Birntraum and lighting designer Sylvie Garot. In 1999 he teamed up with Petra Roggel to found in situ productions and has invited a series of choreographers and dancers such as Yvonne Rainer and Jérôme Bel, video artists and theoreticians to collaborate on his E.X.T.E.N.S.I.O.N.S. project.