Le Laboratoire d’Etude du Mouvement (LEM) – a space for interdisciplinarity

Jacques Lecoq (1921-1999) trained as a physiotherapist before working in the theatre in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. After working in France and Italy for several years, he eventually started his internationally renowned school of theatre in Paris in 1956 (Lecoq 1987, 1997; Lecoq et al. 2006). The LEM was founded in 1976, as the School moved into what was to become its permanent home, Le Central. This space, a former gymnasium on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis in Paris, is deeply infused with its own resonances and qualities. The LEM was open to students at the School, as well as others, such as architects, scenographers and painters. At its heart are two strands – ‘movement work which brings the miming body into play, and creative work which involves building scenographic structures’ (Lecoq, 2020: 165). The central principle of the LEM is that all living spaces have ‘dramatic possibilities’ (ibid.) and that such space ‘influences the behaviour of people who enter it or the characters who perform in it’ (2020).