For the creation of Le Mont Analogue, choreographer and director Wynn Holmes brings together a team of 13 performers from the worlds of theater, music, and dance. At the heart of this project, inspired by the final work of French author and poet René Daumal, is a contemporary contemplation of the vast, the infinite, the universal—and the desperate need to find something that pulls us all together.
Influenced by science fiction and folklore, the performance embodies the initiation of a seeker on the path to self-knowledge and the synchronicity through which soulmates are brought together by the “objective chance” spoken of by the surrealist André Breton, reminding us of the hidden order and providence that permeate our lives.
An unfinished alpine adventure novel due to the death of its author, René Daumal, in 1944, Le Mont Analogue is one of the great myths of literature. It is a philosophical tale written between 1939 and 1944 – in the midst of World War II – by a young poet who, throughout his short life, sought to answer existential questions by practicing mountaineering and studying mysticism. Published only eight years after its author’s death, Le Mont Analogue is both a spiritual quest – the mountain being a place where one can communicate with the beyond – and a poetic endeavor. In this novel, where erudition, intelligence, dry humor, and depth intermingle, Daumal presents a synthesis of ancient knowledge with a sharp awareness of the flaws of humanity in its search for truth.
