MANIFESTE-2026 In Situ Dance Film Composition

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP

as part of the Academy ManiFeste-2026

June 15-27, 2026 - PARIS, FRANCE

Tutors: Thierry De Mey (composer, director), Serge Lemouton & Grégoire Lorieux (Ircam computer music designers)

BL!NDMAN [sax]: Pieter Pellens (soprano saxophone), Hendrik Pellens (alto and soprano saxophone), Piet Rebel (tenor saxophone), Sebastiaan Cooman (baritone saxophone)

January-May 2026: Online meetings and work sessions

June 15-27, 2026 @CENTQUATRE-PARIS: workshop, rehearsals, screening/concert

Ircam is offering a composition workshop for short dance films, led by Thierry De Mey, in collaboration with the virtuoso soloists of the BL!NDMAN saxophone quartet [sax] and Ircam computer music designers The aim is to explore the instrumental possibilities offered by electronics, based on a short video.

A demanding and interdisciplinary artistic practice, dance film brings together several forms of movement into a coherent poetic gesture. Cinema and dance place the human body at the center of creation, where music is most often the starting point: dance reacts to pre-existing sound, then film captures the choreographic proposal. Here, on the contrary, the musical composition will be created in response to the film. But played “live,” the music will be able to take advantage of this opportunity for visual counterpoint and multidimensional play, so that the whole merges into a new sensory experience during the screening/concert.

Participants will choose from film clips featuring choreographies with very different aesthetics, created by Thierry De Mey, who will be following their work. They will be able to write either for one of the instrumentalists, as a soloist with electronics, or for a duo with electronics, or for the acoustic quartet.

With the support of the ULYSSES Platform, supported by the European Union.

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Thierry De Mey Films

https://nubo.ircam.fr/index.php/s/ZikNgyCTDcwLLgb

·      Kinshasa ville en mouvement – choreography by Papi Ebotani  [excerpt] (5'58)

·      Le Faune – choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker [excerpt from Prélude à la mer] (7’17)

·      Love Sonnets – choreography by Michele Anne De Mey [excerpts]:

-      Tuiles (6’02)

-      Cimenterie (5’56)

-      Terril (8’45)

·      Ma Mère L’Oye – choreographies by Annabelle Chambon & Cédric Charron, Erna Omarsdottir, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui & Damien Jalet [excerpt] (6’45)

·      Rémanences – choreography by Thierry De Mey [excerpt] (6’51)

·      Table Variation – choreography by William Forsythe [excerpt from One Flat Thing, reproduced] (5’12’)

·      Urban Counterdance – choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker [excerpt] (6’55)

·      Wall Work – choreography by Iztok Kovac (5’16) 

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January 2026 - Online presentation meeting with all six selected composers, Thierry De Mey, the saxophonists and teams from BL!NDMAN, the computer music designers, and the teams from Ircam. Each composer will then have a one-hour individual online meeting with Thierry De Mey to discuss the project proposed in their application.

January to May 2026 – Online preparatory work sessions

·      work on the films to understand and integrate their structures;

·      demonstrations and listening sessions by the saxophonists of BL!NDMAN [sax] and computer music designers;

·      Online and email discussions with the saxophonists of BL!NDMAN [sax], Thierry De Mey, and the computer music designers will complement the working sessions.

 June 15–27, 2026 – Workshop at CENTQUATRE-PARIS

·      Finalization of electronics with Ircam computer music designers

·      Rehearsals with BL!NDMAN [sax] performers

·      Public performance on Saturday, June 27, 2026

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APPLICATIONS

Applicants must:

•    have been born after January 1, 1994;

•    not have already participated twice in another ManiFeste Academy workshop;

•    be able to speak and understand English.

Application deadline: Wednesday, November 12, 2025, midnight CEST.

Personalized response by email on Tuesday, December 23, 2025.

Feel free to contact us via muvac chat, do you have any questions.

Jury

The jury that will select the young composers will include Thierry De Mey, BL!NDMAN artistic directors Tomas Serrien and Ward De Ketelaere, BL!NDMAN musicians, and computer music designersSerge Lemouton and Grégoire Lorieux.

Conditions of participation for selected artists

Registration fee: €450.

The academy does not cover scholarships, travel, or accommodation. Selected candidates must find accommodation on their own.

Selected composers must, under penalty of cancellation of their participation:

•    commit to composing a work

-    that is original,

-    whose duration is adapted to the film assigned to them by the jury,

•    participate in a group videoconference meeting with all participants, the guest composer, and the computer music designers in January 2026;

•    pay their registration fees by Tuesday, January 27, 2026, at the latest;

•    prepare in advance the electronic equipment necessary for the realization of their project, in conjunction with the teaching team (exchanges via videoconference and email);

•    send their instrumental score by Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at the latest;

•    send their electronic demo by Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at the latest;

•    make any changes to their work requested by the teaching team;

•    attend all work sessions and rehearsals with all participants, as well as dedicated workshop meetings from Monday, June 15 to Saturday, June 27, 2026 (Sunday off).

Selected composers who submit their scores or electronic demos after the specified dates, or who are absent, even partially, during the workshop, will have their participation automatically canceled without recourse.