A.I.M.E.

AIME was created in July 2007 by founding members who have all collaborated with the group over the years in many different projects:
-       from 2002 to 2004, Julie Nioche, Gabrielle Mallet and Isabelle Ginot established a research project, “Etudes, ” in residence at the Ménagerie de Verre in Paris.
-       in 2003 Julie Nioche asked Isabelle Ginot to intervene in the program of the Bodyworks Festival at the Cultural Center Le Vooruit in Ghent, for which she was the programmer; the same year, Isabelle Ginot asked Julie Nioche to give a lecture, “The image of the body,” at the dance department of the University Paris VIII.

Based on these first experiences, they created A.I.M.E in July 2007.

Julie Nioche’s dance works send dance overflowing into simple, fluid scenes involving states of serious physical exertion. Her work has a strong connection to its set design, lighting and music; the objective being to create environmental works which bring the audience to empathize with them through their own sensations. She involves her dancers in “sensorial and sensual” dances, a dimension often neglected in the political perception of the bodies.

Through projects validating the body’s knowledge in many different social milieux, Julie Nioche contributes with A.I.M.E. to the civic role of the artist. A.I.M.E. modifies through its work the cultures of movement and the representation of the body in the fields of contemporary dance, social work and the educational and medical worlds.

All of A.I.M.E.’s actions are focused on the transmission and sharing of the knowledge and awareness of the body in a social structure. Whether it be artistic or performance-oriented, socio-educational or pedagogical, all of these actions contribute to their mutual goal of supporting the action, the empowerment of the persons mobilized: performers, dancers, artistic staff, spectators, workshop participants, patients, professionals and others associated with the caring professions …

In creative projects or those involving the transmission of this physical knowledge, they prioritize construction and commitment to the specific contexts which are the starting points for setting people in motion.

A.I.M.E. has developed four axes of work which intercut together, responding to the multiple contexts of both creation and practice:

1-    Creation of choreographic works
2-    Development of different relationships with audiences:
Creation of works for amateurs
Development of certain physical practices: workshops, individual coaching, creation of “sensitive spaces” to facilitate audience awareness.
3-    Training:
Short-term training: teaching professionals from the cultural sector (PR) and the medico-social areas.
Training of workshop leaders, in which A.I.M.E. is asked to help train those giving these workshops.
Long-term training as part of studies leading to the French degree, the D.U.: “Physical technique in the caring professions,” for somatic practitioners, dancers and professionals in the medico-social sector.
4- Analytic work and a critical approach to intervention in the field
Research into new ways of evaluating physical practice and its impact in different contexts
Production of tools to communicate acquired knowledge to the cultural, social and medical fields.

From creation to creation, whether she is onstage or in situ, Julie Nioche brings together in A.I.M.E. a team of artists, all interested in exploring further the links to sensation, the aesthetic of relationships, and the contexts in which her works are developed. The association is currently a source and a resource for many of these artists, as well as offering support in and on their own journeys.

“A.I.M.E. is proud to own its ten years of experimentation: our works are constructed onstage and in the field; they are both cooperative and nomadic, with dances both experienced
and sensed, exploring relationships through all these senses. For ten years we have declared
the equality of works experienced onstage and in situ, with expert, ordinary and fragile bodies.

We create dances with residents. We refer to those living in cities, in the countryside, in the ports, as well as those living in institutions, group homes, hospitals, schools, shelters and day centers of all kinds. We believe that knowledge is not reserved for the few. We believe that dance circulates in many different ways.” 

A.I.M.E.’s team

ÉQUIPES ADMINISTRATIVES, COORDINATRICES

Présidente Laure Guazzoni
Trésorier Bénédick Picot
Sécrétaire Sonia Soulas
Directrion administrative, coordination Stéphanie Gressin
Responsable de développement Véronique Ray
Assistante administration Dorsaf Ben Nasser

A.I.M.E. a été fondée en 2007 à l’initiative de :
- Isabelle GINOT, enseignante-chercheuse, codirectrice du département danse à l’université Paris VIII et praticienne Feldenkrais
- Stéphanie GRESSIN, administratrice et coordinatrice de projets artistiques
- Gabrielle MALLET, kinésithérapeute et ostéopathe
- Julie NIOCHE chorégraphe, danseuse et ostéopathe
- Michel REPELLIN, responsable de projets interassociatifs à l’attention notamment des personnes concernées par le V.I.H. et les hépatithes virales, membre de l’équipe de direction pédagogique du D.U. "Techniques du corps et monde du soin"
- Sophie CLAUDEL (présidente), directrice/médiatrice de projets artistiques internationaux, attachée culturelle à Londres puis New-York, actuellement directrice de l’ENSBA de Dijon
- Xavier DOUROUX (trésorier), directeur du Consortium, Centre d’art contemporain de Dijon, médiateur du programme "Nouveaux Commanditaires" de la Fondation de France en Bourgogne, directeur des Editions Les Presses du réel et gérant associé de la société de la production de films Anna Sanders Films. Xavier nous a malheureusement quitté en 2017.