Where did our love go?

During The Great Depression, dance competitions were organised across the US with cash prizes for dance couples who continued dancing beyond their total exhaustion. It was perceived as a great opportunity for people who had lost everything during the stock market crash of 1929. The public placed bets on who would last the longest. Judges ensured that rules were followed: those no longer in motion were disqualified. Sometimes judges added additional challenges, such as tying dance partners’ ankles together.

This peculiar phenomenon led Emilie Pitoiset to study the impact of a political, economic or social crisis on the movements of bodies. Where did our love go? is a choreography for two couples on the brink of collapse. In addition to this one-hour version, there is also a version that lasts no less than six hours.

Emilie Pitoiset is a visual artist and choreographer, and lives and works in Paris. Her work examines the resistance of bodies through dance, rituals, sexuality and money, and refers to film noir, secret societies and popular culture from the 1920s onwards.