Alain Buffard

(1960-2013)

After studying dance with Alwin Nikolais, a crucial moment in Alain Buffard’s life came with his encounter with the American choreographers Yvonne Rainer and Anna Halprin. A performer for Daniel Larrieu and Régine Chopinot among others, he created Good Boy in 1998, a solo that is as radical and direct as a manifesto. Alain Buffard’s work perpetually evolved, but from the outset featured recurrent issues. After a period influenced by questions about art, the body and gender, the choreographer went off at a different tangent with propositions that no longer allowed anyone to ignore the fact that the key question in dance is the body and the challenge and place of politics. His last piece, Baron Saturday, premiered at the Théâtre de Nîmes on 24 and 25 April 2012.