11:59 a.m., Jardin des Plantes, Paris, 5.

Dancing at the foot of the great cedar of Lebanon, a remarkable tree over 20 meters high, planted in 1734, the year in which the first plan of Paris was made.

“Lamartine, in his“ Voyage en Orient ”recounting his visit to Mount Lebanon in April 1833, wrote:“ These trees are the most famous natural monuments in the universe… Arabs of all sects have a traditional veneration for these trees … They are divine beings in the form of trees… Alas! These trees are shrinking every century. Travelers counted formerly thirty or forty, later seventeen; still a dozen later. There are only seven left, which their mass can presume to be contemporaneous with biblical times … ” jardinsdefrance.org

I had planned to dance  with Katia Légeret, That has to say home  for reasons relating to the health context. Today, around thirty of her master’s students at Paris 8 University will be dancing at the foot of several remarkable trees in Paris. I am participating as researcher and artist associated with this project.

With the kind authorization of the MNHN and the MNHN library which welcomes us for a video conference bringing together all these dances.

On the eve of a new national confinement, these dances all over Paris, at the foot of centuries-old trees, have a special flavor.