Victorine Reinewald
ph. Jonathan Llense
A story about honesty between Victorine, a professional dog trainer, and Olrùn, a wolfhound. The adventure began on a farm not far from Le Mans and continued during a hiking trip in the Vosges, on a bicycle in the Morbihan, and which passed through the Avignon theatre festival... A relationship based on a common language, that of the body, attitude and signals.
The same language
"Like many children who grew up in the countryside, I was lucky enough to encounter several species of animals during my childhood. The farm, riding horses, ant races, Panama the neighbours' rabbit who used to jump the fence to race in my garden. And my parents who adopted Milou, a fox terrier, my nanny. My parents didn't come home at lunchtime and they were worried about me being alone. Milou, my buddy, my brother, my silent partner, my companion in petty theft, we cannot count the number of disguises you wore without getting tired of them, the broken objects you took on your account to protect me from the wrath of adults, the times you tried to bite my father when he was passing me a bar of soap... Thank you Miloutti, I'll take this opportunity to pay you a last tribute. Because my internal animal was waking up, I went to look for Olrùn. I needed to talk to someone who spoke the same language. That of the body, of signals, of postures. I was tired of words, you can do everything with words, from lies to tender words. I wanted to live a more honest story. My life before Olrùn was another life. Sometimes I don't remember what that other life felt like, what it was like without the dog? That feeling of total loneliness, I've forgotten.“
Snoozing
My dog's name is Olrùn, she's a wolfhound from Saarloos, she's almost 4 years old. It's the name of a Valkyrie that nobody knows. Her second name is Martine, a sort of evil double, a canine equivalent of Harley Quinn. We met near Le Mans, in Parennes. In a farmhouse at Clémence's. She was sleeping the first time I saw her. It hasn't changed much since. So much so that it took some people a while before they saw her standing. She snoozes non-stop! Olrùn is very calm, very graceful, sweet and intelligent. She hates anything that comes from the sea, like shrimps, fish etc.. Except for the chemical surimi, go figure.
Listening
Since spending time with Olrùn, my understanding of people has improved, my instincts have become sharper. Patience, listening, resilience, qualities necessary to understand an animal, whatever it is, human or not. What's cool about Olrùn is that we have the same idea of fun: we take our claws out and go spend 3/4 days in the countryside, just the two of us, and we try to observe the wild animals around us. We do everything together: jobs, trips, outings, friends, family, holidays, going to the bank, the theatre, and if she can't get in anywhere, I soon feel less like going. Except for shopping, which is non-negotiable. Anyway, Olrùn has a very developed free will and when she prefers to stay at home and sleep, she lets me know. It's very clear.
Then there was the time when...
Our first hiking trip was in the Vosges. I was so scared of the darkness, a very deep, abysmal darkness! It was the first time I understood what it was like to live in the frenzy of our cities. Then there was the 56 km bike ride in the Morbihan, with my boyfriend pulling the cart full of 30kg of Olrùn + 15kg of backpack each + 7kg of croquettes on my old bike. If we had known it was impossible, we wouldn't have done it, but well... we didn't know. Or there was the time when, on the evening of the premiere of Kingdom at the Avignon Festival, it started to pour down on the stage. We were playing in the open air in the courtyard of the Saint-Joseph high school. We played anyway, in the rain, the audience under their umbrellas, thunderous applause at the end (literally), the dogs intoxicated by the atmosphere of apocalyptic warriors, it was crazy!
ph. personal archives
