After six years at the Centre Chorégraphique National du Havre as a performer with François Raffinot, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh founded the company Sui Generis in Le Havre in 1998, with Raffinot's support.
In 2000, L'Arsenal de Metz offered the company a residency with the opportunity to perform pieces from its repertoire and new creations.
Invited by La Passerelle/Scène Nationale de Saint-Brieuc, the company settled in Brittany in 2001, working for four years in the Côtes d'Armor and Finistère (Théâtre du Pays de Morlaix) to develop its creations and carry out educational work in a region that was then welcoming its first contemporary dance company.
In September 2006, the company moved to Rennes and began a three-year residency at Le Triangle, a subsidised dance theatre in Rennes, combining performances of pieces from its repertoire with new creations, workshops, courses, invitations to other artists, etc. etc. The company's establishment in Brittany enabled it to develop work linked to the region and its history, combining ambitious and multidisciplinary creative projects with an educational approach intrinsic to the artistic creation process (Double-jeux in Metz and Rainbow in Rennes).
From 2008 to 2012, the company benefited from a tripartite agreement (State, Region, City) that enabled it to carry out its projects in Brittany, but also nationally and internationally. Supported by partners such as the Théatre de la Ville in 2005, the Théâtre de la Cité Internationale in Paris, and the Théâtre National de Bretagne in Rennes in 2010, Sui Generis has enjoyed a special relationship since its inception with L'Arsenal in Metz, Les Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis, Arcadi, the Scène Nationale d'Evreux, the Théâtre de la Cité Internationale, L'Etoile du Nord in Paris, and Danspace in New York.
Since its creation, the Sui Generis company has been supported by the DRAC Bretagne, the Brittany Region, the City of Rennes, the Ille-et-Vilaine General Council, the DRAC Basse-Normandie, the Basse-Normandie Region, the Institut Français, the Côtes d'Armor General Council, the City of Saint-Brieuc, the Lorraine DRAC, the Lorraine Regional Council, the Moselle General Council, the Haute-Normandie DRAC, the Haute-Normandie Region, and the City of Le Havre.
The uniqueness of Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh's approach lies as much in the subjects of experimentation that feature in her early works as in her choice of collaborating artists, with whom she explores the cross-disciplinary nature of dance, music, writing and the visual arts.
After her very first pieces, which displayed a very assertive personal style, the choreographer went on to explore the worlds of neurology and psychiatry, broadening her field of action to tackle themes that allow performers to conjure up a different kind of imagination.
In her approach, she favours the principles of improvisation, which serve as a matrix for pieces that are otherwise extremely structured.
While her early work featured a ‘figurative’ body (Anthume ou la sensation du membre fantôme) that emphasised the uniqueness of each performer, the choreographer gradually moved towards more abstract work, focusing on highlighting the qualities of the body that serve as the guiding thread for the structure of her pieces (Texture/Composite, Sagen).
With décompositions, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh embarked on a cycle of pieces (CROISéES, White Light, ici/Per.For) that marked a clear break with her previous work. While the movement writing remained highly demanding, the principle of “repetition” that was at work here combined with a reflection on rhythm and space. More abstract and contemplative in nature, this work invites the audience to experience pieces with a hypnotic quality.
Beyond the principles of choreographic writing, whose mode is renewed in a theme around the perception of time (fugue, memory), the choreographer regularly combines other disciplines with her pieces through ongoing artistic collaborations.
Composer Zeena Parkins and lighting designer Françoise Michel were the first artists to accompany the choreographer's career from the outset, while visual artist Laurent Pariente has created several stage designs and writer Frédéric-Yves Jeannet, in addition to participating in the piece CROISéES, is one of those whose universe has strongly influenced the choreographer's work.
While Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh's projects are always structured around very specific basic principles, these collaborations open up a field of possibilities through the cross-fertilisation they generate, providing the choreographer with a line of thought that goes beyond the strict framework of movement writing.
Her creative desires then focus on a form of writing that questions figuration in abstraction and places the performer at the heart of the writing process. The following artistic issues question universal themes, and her research could thus be defined in these few lines by Gilles Deleuze about Francis Bacon, which could then be applied to the field of choreography: "Painting has neither a model to represent nor a story to tell. It therefore has two possible ways of escaping the figurative: towards pure form, through abstraction; or towards the purely figural, through extraction or isolation. If the painter is attached to the figure, if he takes the second path, it will be to oppose the “figural” to the figurative. "
From 2007 to 2011, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh embarked on a cycle of research based mainly on musical writing (Aboli Bibelot...rebondi, 2007 - Fractale, 2009 – Vortex, 2011), also drawing on certain aspects of the history of painting (Eaux-Fortes, 2007 - Ad astra, 2009). These two pieces mark the beginning of a cycle whose theme implicitly explores masculine and feminine identity.
With the diptych for body and voice – transire and insight – the choreographer continues her work on the question of ‘gender’, based on the work of anthropologist Françoise Héritier (Masculin/Féminin I/ La pensée de la différence and II Dissoudre la hiérarchie).
Since the beginning of Sui Generis, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh has also been creating pieces designed for amateur dancers or non-dancers. This approach is accompanied by a desire to share a genuine choreographic creation process (Double–jeux in Metz in 2001 and Rainbow in Rennes in 2008).
In 2011, she launched the Histoires Exquises project, which invites choreographers (Latifa Laâbissi, Salia Sanou, Thierry Thieû Niang, Brigitte Seth and Roser Montlo-Guberna, etc.) to create a solo based on an oral testimony, with the aim of bringing an audience together around different choreographic styles and questioning their nature.
After six years at the Centre Chorégraphique National du Havre as a performer with François Raffinot, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh founded the company Sui Generis in Le Havre in 1998, with Raffinot's support.
In 2000, L'Arsenal de Metz offered the company a residency with the opportunity to perform pieces from its repertoire and new creations.
Invited by La Passerelle/Scène Nationale de Saint-Brieuc, the company settled in Brittany in 2001, working for four years in the Côtes d'Armor and Finistère (Théâtre du Pays de Morlaix) to develop its creations and carry out educational work in a region that was then welcoming its first contemporary dance company.
In September 2006, the company moved to Rennes and began a three-year residency at Le Triangle, a subsidised dance theatre in Rennes, combining performances of pieces from its repertoire with new creations, workshops, courses, invitations to other artists, etc. etc. The company's establishment in Brittany enabled it to develop work linked to the region and its history, combining ambitious and multidisciplinary creative projects with an educational approach intrinsic to the artistic creation process (Double-jeux in Metz and Rainbow in Rennes).
From 2008 to 2012, the company benefited from a tripartite agreement (State, Region, City) that enabled it to carry out its projects in Brittany, but also nationally and internationally. Supported by partners such as the Théatre de la Ville in 2005, the Théâtre de la Cité Internationale in Paris, and the Théâtre National de Bretagne in Rennes in 2010, Sui Generis has enjoyed a special relationship since its inception with L'Arsenal in Metz, Les Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis, Arcadi, the Scène Nationale d'Evreux, the Théâtre de la Cité Internationale, L'Etoile du Nord in Paris, and Danspace in New York.
Since its creation, the Sui Generis company has been supported by the DRAC Bretagne, the Brittany Region, the City of Rennes, the Ille-et-Vilaine General Council, the DRAC Basse-Normandie, the Basse-Normandie Region, the Institut Français, the Côtes d'Armor General Council, the City of Saint-Brieuc, the Lorraine DRAC, the Lorraine Regional Council, the Moselle General Council, the Haute-Normandie DRAC, the Haute-Normandie Region, and the City of Le Havre.
The uniqueness of Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh's approach lies as much in the subjects of experimentation that feature in her early works as in her choice of collaborating artists, with whom she explores the cross-disciplinary nature of dance, music, writing and the visual arts.
After her very first pieces, which displayed a very assertive personal style, the choreographer went on to explore the worlds of neurology and psychiatry, broadening her field of action to tackle themes that allow performers to conjure up a different kind of imagination.
In her approach, she favours the principles of improvisation, which serve as a matrix for pieces that are otherwise extremely structured.
While her early work featured a ‘figurative’ body (Anthume ou la sensation du membre fantôme) that emphasised the uniqueness of each performer, the choreographer gradually moved towards more abstract work, focusing on highlighting the qualities of the body that serve as the guiding thread for the structure of her pieces (Texture/Composite, Sagen).
With décompositions, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh embarked on a cycle of pieces (CROISéES, White Light, ici/Per.For) that marked a clear break with her previous work. While the movement writing remained highly demanding, the principle of “repetition” that was at work here combined with a reflection on rhythm and space. More abstract and contemplative in nature, this work invites the audience to experience pieces with a hypnotic quality.
Beyond the principles of choreographic writing, whose mode is renewed in a theme around the perception of time (fugue, memory), the choreographer regularly combines other disciplines with her pieces through ongoing artistic collaborations.
Composer Zeena Parkins and lighting designer Françoise Michel were the first artists to accompany the choreographer's career from the outset, while visual artist Laurent Pariente has created several stage designs and writer Frédéric-Yves Jeannet, in addition to participating in the piece CROISéES, is one of those whose universe has strongly influenced the choreographer's work.
While Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh's projects are always structured around very specific basic principles, these collaborations open up a field of possibilities through the cross-fertilisation they generate, providing the choreographer with a line of thought that goes beyond the strict framework of movement writing.
Her creative desires then focus on a form of writing that questions figuration in abstraction and places the performer at the heart of the writing process. The following artistic issues question universal themes, and her research could thus be defined in these few lines by Gilles Deleuze about Francis Bacon, which could then be applied to the field of choreography: "Painting has neither a model to represent nor a story to tell. It therefore has two possible ways of escaping the figurative: towards pure form, through abstraction; or towards the purely figural, through extraction or isolation. If the painter is attached to the figure, if he takes the second path, it will be to oppose the “figural” to the figurative. "
From 2007 to 2011, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh embarked on a cycle of research based mainly on musical writing (Aboli Bibelot...rebondi, 2007 - Fractale, 2009 – Vortex, 2011), also drawing on certain aspects of the history of painting (Eaux-Fortes, 2007 - Ad astra, 2009). These two pieces mark the beginning of a cycle whose theme implicitly explores masculine and feminine identity.
With the diptych for body and voice – transire and insight – the choreographer continues her work on the question of ‘gender’, based on the work of anthropologist Françoise Héritier (Masculin/Féminin I/ La pensée de la différence and II Dissoudre la hiérarchie).
Since the beginning of Sui Generis, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh has also been creating pieces designed for amateur dancers or non-dancers. This approach is accompanied by a desire to share a genuine choreographic creation process (Double–jeux in Metz in 2001 and Rainbow in Rennes in 2008).
In 2011, she launched the Histoires Exquises project, which invites choreographers (Latifa Laâbissi, Salia Sanou, Thierry Thieû Niang, Brigitte Seth and Roser Montlo-Guberna, etc.) to create a solo based on an oral testimony, with the aim of bringing an audience together around different choreographic styles and questioning their nature.