Les Commandos Percu’s 2017 piece “Silence!” explored a very peculiar universe: musicians rising out like miners from the ashes of an ancient world. This show toured widely across Europe and gave birth to “Mineurs” which explores the identity of these men at work, getting out of the mine to bring the machines back to life. This show focuses on closeness and interaction with the audience.
Miners take the streets as if they have just been extracted from the guts of the earth. Streets turn into a gallery where working men move forward in the beam of their lamps. The audience becomes a moving wall. What did they dig up? A warm breeze rises, the breath of a living machine, a powerful heart beat setting their pace. Miners progress, surrounded by slivers of metal and sparkles, they drag, scrape, heat. The beat develops into a whirlwind of drum. Arriving on a city square where they gather all their treasures, Miners blackened arms make the drums speak. What they dug up is a whirlwind of life.
