AION

Presentation

AION emerges from a decade of work by choreographer Alexandre Roccoli, exploring the body as a site of perception, memory and transformation. Its title comes from Carl Jung's late work Aion (1951), where cyclical time becomes a space for psychic reorganisation. That idea shapes the project's approach to trauma: rather than representing it, the work opens the possibility of return, repetition and reconfiguration.
The project rests on a conviction: the body does not only carry stories, it produces knowledge. Alexandre Roccoli's Diplôme Universitaire in psychotraumatology at Sorbonne Université, which he plans to extend into doctoral research, provides the scientific foundation of AION. It is the ground on which the artistic, somatic and pedagogical protocol at the heart of the project has been built.
AION unfolds as a laboratory where artists, researchers, care professionals and people affected by psychological trauma work together rather than side by side. Over 18 months (September 2026 to early 2028), the project develops a somatic protocol tested through workshops in hospitals (Saint-Antoine, Pitié-Salpêtrière), a refugee centre, a public library and a high school in Saint-Denis. It integrates a proprioceptive feedback system developed with AI as a partner of perception. The process leads to a choreographic creation for around 150 spectators, where dancers from the Paris Opera and other invited artists share the stage with participants from the workshops.
The story AION tells is not the story of trauma. It is the story of what a body can still do, together with other bodies, when given time, attention and the right conditions to rebuild its own sense of possibility.

Artistic Team

AION is led by Alexandre Roccoli, Artistic Director of A Short Term Effect, choreographer and workshop facilitator. Drawing on both his choreographic practice and his university training in psychotraumatology, he directs the artistic research, develops the somatic protocol and leads the workshops in dialogue with participants, healthcare professionals and researchers. Camille Nauffray is the project’s dramaturg. She will support the development of the final performance, shaping the relationship between materials emerging from the workshops, participants’ testimonies, references to Nijinsky’s Diaries and the project’s audiovisual dimension. Nina Veyrier is responsible for production and project coordination, overseeing the schedule, partnerships, budget and communication between the artistic, healthcare, scientific and cultural stakeholders. Marcos Serafim is a Brazilian artist and documentary filmmaker working across cinema, performance and installation. For AION, he leads the research and development of the AI-driven proprioceptive feedback system, combining real-time image processing, generative visual environments and movement-based interaction. Pablo Legasa, First Dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet, Hugo Marchand, Étoile Dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet, Vera Gorbatcheva, dancer and choreographer of Russian origin, and Yassine Aboulakoul, Moroccan dancer, are invited artists. They will take part in selected workshops and research sessions as both practitioners and learners within AION’s horizontal exchange of embodied knowledge. Their involvement will also inform the final choreographic creation, whose cast will evolve throughout the process. An IRCAM researcher will be identified to contribute expertise in interactive systems, sound, motion capture and gesture analysis. A dedicated technical stage manager will oversee the installation, operation and adaptation of the AI/video system across venues and during the final presentation.

Partners