Do Disturb. Musarc at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 21–23 April 2017

The centre-piece of Musarc’s performances at Do Disturb! was a semi-circular mirror of 10m length. The mirror represented both the physical domain in which the choir’s work unfolds, as well as its immaterial reflection: the surface that supports, and the symbolic arc that frames the ensemble’s practice – répétition.

Long-term collaborators Sam Belinfante, Ben Hadley, Neil Luck, Joseph Kohlmaier + TONGUE, Sarah Kate Wilson took the idea of the mirror as the starting point for several new commissions developed for the festival with members of the ensemble. Arranged in the form of a series of tableaux which each follow a specific line of inquiry – répétitive, politique, funéraire, and civique – the choir’s performances ranged from re-interpretations of traditional choral material to choreography, pieces that explore internal dialogue, speech and crowd-dynamics, to interventions in the city and outside the Palais de Tokyo.