Now hosted annually, with last year having been the first occasion, Jean Paul Gaultier’s HQ in Paris lent an evening this past Monday to raise awareness for Doctor Jacques Leibowitch’s ICCARRE (Intermittent, in Canny short Cycles, Antiretrovirals may Retain Efficiency). The fashion designer himself lost his long-time partner, Francis Menuge, to AIDS in 1990. Dr. Leibowitch’s unique treatment for those afflicted with HIV has simplified TRI-therapy by reducing the patient’s intake of anti-viral cocktails, limiting side effects and thereby greatly improving quality of life. He has been fighting for government funding since developing the method 12 years ago.The doctor refers to étoile of the Paris Opera Ballet, Marie-Agnès Gillot, as the “godmother” of the Association of Friends of ICCARRE. Last year, Gillot danced a spellbound duet with dancer and choreographer Blanca Li; this year, she invited musicians Marianne Faithfull, as well as sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque, to join her on stage in a production coordinated by former model Christine Bergström.The evening began with actor Jacques Weber’s touching tribute to Paris, followed by legendary songstress Marianne Faithfull’s performance of “Broken English” (1979) and “Love More Or Less,” from her last album “Give My Love to London” (2014), where she was joined by Gillot. Downstage left in a sheer white, strapless dress, the dancer sat frozen atop a piano stool with her back to the audience. Muscular shoulders slowly rolled over erect, resembling for a moment Kiki de Montparnasse in Man Ray’s “Le Violon d’Ingres” (1924). Faithfull’s own physical suffering due to recent surgeries, which has left her in need of a cane to walk, was acknowledged and enhanced by Gillot’s physical presence restricting itself to her upper body which, too, referenced a childhood stricken with double-scoliosis and years spent bound to a surgical corset 21-hours a day. Her long, sinewy arms twisted and turned into sharp, writhing movements around her back, above her head, pointing in a call-and-response to Faithfull’s lyrics: “North South / East West / Anywhere I choose is best / And there’s nothing to it / I confess / Only love, more or less.” Gillot eventually faced the audience, her hyperextended limbs striking defiant poses, which now utilised her entire body. Convulsive movements bore and released pain with beautifully drawn lines casting shadows onto the stage. She arched her back and stretched an invisible bow, evoking the goddess of the hunt and of the moon, Diana. A variation of Faithull’s and Gillot’s duet was performed last September at the David Lynch designed members club, Silencio.Speeches then followed, initiated by Doctor Leibowitch, and joined by two of his long-term patients – vocal coach Richard Cross, also President of the Association of Friends of ICCARRE, and the visual artist Aurèle Ricard. The logo of ICCARRE, Aurèle’s winged LostDog, bears the motto: “When policies are deaf, only art can open our eyes. Because less is better, help ICCARRE to take off so that patients are finally getting a fair dose of treatment.”Katia and Marielle Labèque, sibling pianists renowned for their virtuoso ensemble performances played, with four hands, two minimalist works for two pianos: the 4th movement from Philip Glass’ “Four Movements for Two Pianos” (2008), joined in by Marie-Agnès Gillot to close the evening with a single movement of Avro Pärt’s “Hymn to a Great City” (1984). Although originally dedicated to New York, this time it was played as a somber tribute to the City of Light and the lives lost. Gillot was dressed entirely in black, her steps according a funereal, lyrical approach to the sisters’ keys, with grand battements reaching the sky, passionately swirling in a futile attempt to rocket upwards. She was not mourning, but rather danced in celebration of both the living and the dead.This night, Gillot’s balletic gestures personified the struggle, the trenchant will to survive - and to live as one chooses - as pointed rejoinders to the undignified ways we die, now. And those spectres indeed loomed large in the hearts and minds of all those fortunate enough to be present.
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