Sylvain Darrifourcq
Percussionist, improviser, composer

Percussionist, multi-instrumentalist, improviser and composer Sylvain Darrifourcq (b. 1979) began his career as a classical percussionist, but later switched to drums and discovered rock, jazz and improvised music. A recognized figure in this generation of improvisers, curious about frontiers, he is in great demand as a musician. He has collaborated with numerous French, European and American personalities, including Joëlle Léandre, Joachim Kühn, Tony Malaby, Michel Portal, Louis Sclavis, Marc Ducret, Andrea Parkins, Akosh S, Kit Downes... In 2009, he won a "Victoire du Jazz" award with the Emile Parisien Quartet, of which he was drummer for over ten years. Through a series of human and musical encounters, his attraction to contemporary forms of creation became clearer, and led him to set up his own festival with singer/double bassist Elise Dabrowski: the DA festival. Fascinated by questions of temporality, space and rupture in music, he now creates a highly personal language, built around notions of "poly-speed", "physicality" and the mechanization of sound gesture. His own projects, "Milesdavisquintet!", "In love with" and "Tendimite", are the result. His research has led him to question the plastic dimension of his productions. In 2019, in the company of Nicolas Canot, he gave birth to the "Fixin" eco-system - a set of projects ranging from sound installation to performance - featuring digitally controlled motors in a minimalist, immersive light scenography. He also collaborates with composers Karl Naegelen and Guillaume Hermen, visual artist Zimoun, choreographers Soa Ratsifandrihana and Liz Santoro, and author Françoise Dô. In 2023, he founded Hector Editions to publish works with a scientific and knowledge-sharing content, and published the book "20,000 mots", which he co-wrote with Antoine Lebousse.

Nicolas Canot
Sound and digital artist, composer, improviser, guitarist and teacher

Nicolas Canot is based in Reims. For several years, his work has focused on electronic, electroacoustic and generative music and sound, as well as digital installations and improvised forms. His performances and installations have been presented on numerous occasions in France and Europe. He performs alone or in collaboration with visual artists, improvising instrumentalists or choreographers (Jonathan Schatz, Armelle Blary, Jean-Baptiste Masson, Ivan Polliart, GMTW, Jean-Christophe Hanché, Sylvain Darrifourcq, José-Alberto Gomes, Fabien Cali, Alexandra Grimal, Luis Eurico Costa, Jean-Baptiste Berger, Patrick Defossez, Miko Hinanen, Henrique Portovedo, etc.). His sound research focuses in particular on "micro-sound" music (development of digital instruments dedicated to granular synthesis) and on the phenomena of "phantom" spatialization through the development of computer tools designed for sound space illusions (immersive performances in binaural 3D sound, with headphones) or the creation of sound in places with "impure" acoustics (hangars, halls, parking lots, etc.), research into the diffusion of the sound field and its perception by the listener. At the same time, he is conducting artistic research into the production of 3D images, fixed or animated, generated by sound or mathematical forms, or by the use of data streams (sensors, GPS, Arduino language, etc.) via the Max/MSP/Jitter development environment. He also teaches sound art and interactive digital arts. Nicolas Canot is an associate artist at Césaré (CNCM - Reims).

Max Lance
Sound engineer, stage manager, developer, tweaker and musician

Maxime Lance is no gymnast, but he's a keen practitioner of the sonic "grand écart". He moves between the spheres of traditional oral music and experimental, learned and improvised music, using new lutheries and new technologies. A gypsy jazz guitarist, he is also co-founder of Sonopopée, a collective of sound artists and developers who design interactive and playful sound installations. A native of Reims, Maxime Lance worked for ten years at Césaré (CNCM - Reims), where he collaborated with Jean-Christophe Feldhandler (sound engineering) and Hélène Breschand (musical assistant and mixing), worked with Floy Krouchi (connected bass design) and Louis Chrétiennot (analog electronics design), and recorded with Daniel Erdmann, Moriba Koita and the Quatuor Béla, among others. Like Zinedine Zidane, Maxime loves technique, altruism, the art of improvisation, drama and live performance...

Liz Santoro
Choreographer and dancer

American choreographer and dancer Liz Santoro began her training in the professional division of the Boston Ballet School. She then studied neuroscience at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, where in 2001 she completed a degree in biology and psychology, while continuing to dance and experiment with choreographic composition. After graduating, she decided to pursue her dance training in New York, where she studied technique and repertoire at the Trisha Brown School, ballet with Janet Panetta, and various techniques (improvisation, Body-Mind Centering®, and Alexander Technique) with Movement Research. She then worked as a performer with Ann Liv Young on numerous shows, and with a number of choreographers, including Alexandra Bachzetsis, Jack Ferver, Philipp Gehmacher, Trajal Harrell, Sam Kim, Heather Kravas, Jillian Peña, Eszter Salamon & Christine de Smedt, and David Wampach.
Her work, which examines the performative roles of attention and gaze, and questions the tense relationship between watcher and watched, has since been presented by Movement Research at the Judson Church, Danspace Project at St Marks Church, Chez Bushwick, Dixon Place, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, The Chocolate Factory, Dance Theater Workshop, Théâtre de Vanves, Atelier de Paris - Carolyn Carlson, Museum of Arts and Design and Impulstanz Festival.
She has received danceWEB and FUSED grants, and has held residencies at Dance Theater Workshop, SKITE organized by Jean-Marc Adolphe, Point Ephémère and Impulstanz Festival. Her first show was nominated for a Bessie Award in 2012 and hailed by the New York Times as "a meticulous exploration of the female body". Her second piece, "Watch It", in collaboration with Pierre Godard, has just received a Bessie Award in 2013 in the "Outstanding Production for a work at the forefront of contemporary dance" category.