Liv & Jimmy in Martinique — or how to go from polar circle snow to hot sand in a few hours.
The meeting starts remotely.
A referral from John Dower, a few video calls, discussions about motion capture, musical-choreographic practices... and fairly quickly, it became obvious: we had to meet.
A few months later, they are on a plane.
When they arrived, there was no gentle transition.
We'll jump right into a cultural immersion at Tropiques Atrium, then head to the sea. Les Trois-Îlets, the sand, the sun.
First observation: Liv is discovering the tropics. Really.
First sand, first constant heat, first confrontation with an environment that never pauses.
Jimmy, he finds something. A buried Caribbean memory.
Very quickly, the stay takes on another dimension: sensory.
The heat is permanent. The sound too.
At night, it's not silence—it's an orchestra. Frogs, insects, continuous vibrations. Where we sleep, Liv struggles. The body endures, adapts... or tries to.
Welcome to Martinique.
Residency is built in the everyday.
Cuisine. A lot. Local fish, shared dishes.
We're going to the gym in the morning.
We are collecting seashells.
We talk. A lot too.
For a week, we're not just living together—we're living *life* together.
In parallel, we're touring the premises.
Visit Clément Foundation, between heritage and contemporary art (with, incidentally, an exhibition by a former professor—it's a small world).
A pit — direct immersion in a unfiltered cultural practice.
La Pointe Faula, other sites, other contexts.
And especially, the encounters.
The choreographer Muriel Bédot joins the residence.
Exchange between two women artists, two professional realities, two territories.
Then, in the studio, the dialogue becomes physical: movement transmission, discussions about bodies, positions, trajectories.
Other presence: E.sy Kennenga, which adds an extra layer to these crossings.
One evening, patron saint's festival in Le François.
For us, classic.
For them, a festival.
And that's where something shifts:
Their gaze sends us back to our own territory. What we consider normal becomes exceptional.
Then there are these simple moments.
Liv, in traditional Sami attire, dances at sunset in Tartane.
Without device. Without stake. Just a tradition manifesting itself through his body in a landscape.
Amidst all this, we're working.
We lay the foundations of Lumen, a project today supported by the PIDA of the’French Institute for 2026.
An intense week.
Physically sometimes difficult. Culturally dense. Humanly rich.
A residence, yes.
But above all, the beginning of a collaboration.
The rest?
It will take place in Sweden.
