Although research is never detached from creation, certain contexts have allowed Loïc Touzé to develop a more fundamental research over the last few years, dealing with questions of gesture or composition. This work in a theoretical field has allowed him to explore the issues involved in creation in a different way, to create a base for his pieces, and to approach dance as a field of thought.
His research activities have particularly developed following an invitation by Yvane Chapuis, research director at the Manufacture, the performing arts school in Lausanne. Loïc Touzé participates in several research projects within this frame :
Partition-s which examines the object and the concept of the partition in different contemporary performing arts fields
Composition which aims at discovering the tools used by contemporary choreographers.
Opérations which concerns actors' training, and the notion of operation as a process that the actor implements in order for acting to happen.
Since 2010, his research is also developed in collaboration with artist and researcher Mathieu Bouvier, whose work initially dealt with the notion of image, conceived as the relation between the spectator and the object he is looking at. Their investigation of the relationship between images and bodies has developed through a series of workshops that combine practice and theoretical input : "Un/edit the images", "Unhinge the images", "Figura", etc.
This initial interrogation concerning image has allowed them to experiment the power of the body’s figurability and has resulted in a vast survey of the concept of the figure in the field of contemporary dance. With the support of the Manufacture, the Figure project Le travail de la figure : que donne à voir une danse ? has unfolded through theoretical seminaries and practical workshops, and has generated an Atlas of Figures, a collaborative and continually evolving platform :