La Ménagère and the Choreography of Repetition

La Ménagère is a solo by La Pieuvre that takes the archetype of the housewife as the starting point for an exploration of repetition, constraint and the female body. Created in 2019, the 35-minute piece forms the second part of the diptych L’Épouse / La Ménagère, two solos built around female archetypes and the representations attached to them.

Drawing on the logic of glitch art, the choreography approaches this increasingly obsolete representation through dysfunction and “system errors”. Two everyday objects, a sponge and a vacuum cleaner, shape both movement and sound, while systematic relationships between gesture and sound gradually construct a confined space in which the figure must operate. Inspired by Sheila Rowbotham’s writing on domestic labour, La Ménagère develops as a cyclical process: gestures are repeated until the figure performing them begins to dissolve.

Founded in 2018 by Rebecca Journo and Véronique Lemonnier, La Pieuvre grew out of their shared desire to create together and experiment across artistic disciplines. Their projects bring dance into conversation with music, performance, photography and video, creating hybrid languages through which they explore the body, perception and their relationship to the world. The company sees itself as a space for experimentation, learning and artistic freedom, working collectively with a wider circle of collaborators.