At the end of his intensive work and rehearsal session, Loïc Nottet confided in the DH for a few minutes.
It seems that you live your rehearsals like concerts?
“Yes it is. At first, we structure the show, the staging, the entrances and exits. In short, we hold everything. Once it’s over, we chain the runs in the closest possible conditions to live. The goal is to be as ready as possible for our evening performances. It is important to give an energy closest to that of the live in order to see that everything works correctly.
What is the most difficult?
”It is above all to imagine everything upstream. You have to be able to project yourself into the abstract, imagine the sets, scenography, costumes, musical arrangements, etc. Nothing is really concrete before arriving in residence and assembling everything on stage. It’s a real gamble to take before arriving on D-Day.”
There is a family resemblance during your rehearsals…
“Clearly. The human and family side is super important to me. I need to rediscover this side of family, friends, summer camp; to be surrounded by artists to lean on in times when I am less efficient, more stressed or less clear in my mind. It’s a real plus to have a super positive energy within a group. It’s very reassuring and it makes things a lot less stressful.”
When we see the duration of your rehearsals, we wonder why you give so much energy during each of your dances and songs?
”I have only one motto: ‘The show must go on’. It doesn’t matter if you play in front of ten, a hundred or thousands of people; for me, the stage is the stage. From the moment I have a microphone in hand and a stage under my feet, I go for it. I give my all while trying to preserve myself a minimum because I am obviously not a robot. I also have my limits. But even for an empty room, I will always give everything I have.”
On stage, you have an eye on everything. Do you find it difficult to delegate, to trust?
“Much less today. I manage to surround myself better than before, especially in terms of the choreography for this show. I assume that we are stronger together. However, it remains vital for me to have an eye on everything because it is my universe that I defend every evening on stage. I’m lucky to be able to project myself in many areas: music, dance, directing, etc. It’s important because I need to be honest with my art. I want it to look like me. So, I have to always validate every detail.”
Palais 12 next February, is this a culmination in your eyes? A dream come true?
”Yes, I am very proud to be able to launch such a date. It is one of the biggest halls in Belgium. In my eyes, this is a real achievement. And the room is filling up very well too, it’s great (smile). I’m obviously super proud of the progress made so far and I still have a twinge in my heart for Forest National, which we’ve had several times during previous tours. I love this place but it was important to go and rub shoulders with an even more ambitious room. This will allow the whole team to enrich themselves with a wonderful experience.”
