Camille Mutel’s artistic work takes root in a deep understanding and practice of Japanese culture. Her approach to time, space, objects, gestures, tension, the role of the audience, and the flow of living energy is inseparable from the training and experiences she has gained through numerous residencies and artistic collaborations in Japan since 2001. This expertise informs a rigorous choreographic style, the product of a long process of practice and research into dance movement. Her pieces are created in close collaboration with specific locations, artists, local residents, and committed partner organizations.

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2004 – 2012
Alone on stage: dance as an experience of the obscure body

 

Vestale / Le saut de Kali / Symphonie pour une dissolution / Effraction de l'oubli / Etna ! / Nu(e)muet

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Aerowaves Laureate 2011 ·

Associate artist at Mains d'Œuvres, Saint-Ouen (2010–2013) ·

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Deeply influenced by her background as a Butoh dancer, the artist presents pieces that she performs mostly as a solo act or accompanied by a musician. The body is naked, like a blank page, and abstract - generally devoid of facial features or gender markers. It reveals itself in turn as animal, mineral, or vegetal, in a constant quest for individuation. The works draw inspiration from chthonic myths (Eurydice, the faun, Hokusai’s octopus, Kali). Themes of birth or rebirth are ever-present; the connection to death, darkness, and transformation lies at the heart of the narrative. The spectator is invited to experience something of the body’s inner reality.

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"Never obscure, always perfectly mastered, this physical expressiveness both captivates and liberates (...). Remarkable."

Éric Demey in Mouvement, 2011

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2013 – 2018
From double to the other

 

Soror / Go, go, go said the bird (human kind cannot bear reality) / Animaux de béance

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Associate Artist at CCAM Scène Nationale, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy (2012–2015) ·

Villa Hors les Murs, Japan (2014) ·

Laureate recipient of the Beppu Project award, Japan (2014) ·

Collaborating Artist at Le Manège Scène Nationale, Reims (2017) ·

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From 2013 onwards, other performers came into play. The initial focus was on exploring the concept of double, first with Italian dancer Alessandra Cristiani and then with singer Isabelle Duthoit; both drew upon a Japanese cultural background closely aligned with the choreographer's own practice. In 2015, she decided to break with this lineage by collaborating with dancer Philippe Chosson and singer Mathieu Jedrazak - artists with no connection to that original practice. Her creative approach took a radical turn: ordinary gestures, choreographed with meticulous precision, gradually replaced "the revolt of the flesh." Sexuality, madness, and screams found an innovative language through figurative gesture. This stylistic shift - more accessible and seemingly more mundane - allowed her to tap directly into the uncanny nature of the here and now.

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"The juxtaposition of these images with the extreme refinement of the choreographic gesture seems to better evoke the spasms born of nothingness, born of the hollow - of the fold."

Marianne de Douhet from Io gazette, 2018

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2019 – 2026
La Place de l'Autre (The Place of the Other)

 

Not I / Pourtant chacun tue ce qu'il aime / Terramation

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Villa Kujoyama Laureate, 2019 ·

Beaumarchais Foundation Writing Grant, 2019 ·

DGCA Grant for Research in Movement-Based Art, 2020 ·

"Young Creators" Showcase – Théâtre de la Ville, 2022 ·

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In 2019, Mutel began writing a trilogy entitled La place de l'autre (The Place of the Other). She drew upon the structure of the Japanese tea ceremony to develop three consecutive pieces incorporating culinary elements. Objects - such as a knife, bones, and ashes - assert themselves as partners to movement and as defining elements of the dramaturgy. Receiving significant support for dance research from the DGCA and SACD, she deepened her exploration of ritual within dance and performance. In collaboration with tea master Dairik Amae, photographer Katherine Longly, culinary designer Céline Pelcé, and dancers Philippe Chosson and Kerem Gelebek, she went to meet and engage with local residents - who became integral to the creative work. From ambush hunting and fly fishing to the embalming of the dead, the resulting creations emerged from a long process rooted in specific social landscapes or defined territories (such as the Seille Valley or cemeteries, in partnership with the Collectif des morts de la rue).

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"Over the past decade, Camille Mutel has undergone a complete personal transformation. Her artistic language - for which the word 'choreography' seems too restrictive - constantly explores new territories. Favoring intimate formats and close proximity to the audience, she creates a genuine form of poetic theater in which images and narratives are shaped by a sensibility that is both delicate and radical. Every emotion is recomposed through the rhythm of imperceptible gestures"

Stéphane Boudin-Lestienne in Artpress, 2020

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2027 – 2029
Les Gestes Inouïs*
*The word “inouï” here is borrowed from the philosopher François Jullien. That which is *inouï* (unthought-of) points to our inability to perceive existence at the heart of the ordinary and the banal.

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Laureate of the Green Residencies, 2026–2027 ·

Museum of Hunting and Nature, 2027 ·

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Returning to the theme of animal slaughter, Camille Mutel - supported by the DGCA through "green residencies" - will begin recording farmers' accounts in autumn 2026. She aims to weave documentary elements into her choreographic work, seeking to amplify the voices of farmers and lend greater power and grounding to the movements she performs. The entire body of work is now conceived from, with, and for rural contexts - all the while remaining fully compatible with and suited to presentation in traditional theater venues.

Mutel has invited anthropologist Charles Stepanoff and agricultural engineer Margaux Thévenin to reflect on the concept of rural ritual.

 

Notably involving dancer Kerem Gelebek and culinary designer Céline Pelcé, this applied research will take on various forms in roundtables, performances, and a podcast.​