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Marcus Borja, through the , which he joined in 2014, performed in-depth analysis of fascinating topics, such as: to question the acoustic dimension and the musical approach of the theater through the chorality and vocality of the actors-performers, to privilege the listening, to scrutinize the rhythms, counterpoints and harmonies, as well at the level of the construction and the interpretation of the text to that of dynamics and scenic movements...

A doctorate of art and creation

The work context offered by SACRe matched my expectations: a decidedly artistic curriculum combining the tools and the rigor of the research with the scenic and performative creation.

For three years under the direction of Jean-François Dusigne (professor of performing arts, theater, ethnoscenology at University Paris 8) and the supervision of Sylvie Deguy (lyric artist and singing professor at CNSAD), Marcus Borja continued exploration of theory and theatrical practice through a thesis entitled Poétiques de la voix et espaces sonores. La musicalité et la choralité comme bases de la pratique théâtrale (Poetics of the voice and sound Spaces: Musicality and chorality as bases of theatrical practice). 
"I chose to join the SACRe course, not really because of "doctorate ", but because it is based on "art and creation" explains Marcus Borja. "Indeed, motivated by my artistic career, my interest in teaching and transmission and my desire to develop and share a path of critical reflection in parallel and in resonance with the research done on the set and in the rehearsal room, I was convinced that the work context offered by SACRe matched my expectations: a decidedly artistic curriculum combining the tools and rigor of research with scenic and performative creation.
Through SACRe, I developed a multidisciplinary research project, at the crossroads of theory and artistic practices, that calls for a variation and alternation of its supports and its tools. Thus, rather than prioritizing or delimiting the spaces of "theory" and "practice," the theory here can only be conceived as a structuring and relativization of a concrete practice, and practice as a motion of theoretical abstractions, crossing and challenging one another. "

SACRe is also a unique interdisciplinary laboratory (EA 7410) dedicated to creators and one of the key elements of ������̳. SACRe brings together five great schools of art and creation and the ENS for creators and researchers to invent and explore together the common territories of research and creation. The laboratory hosts established artists, creators, composers, directors, designers, visual artists, as well as theorists in exact sciences and in the humanities and social sciences. Each SACRe PhD thesis thus consists of a creation of works and the implementation of a reflective approach based on theoretical and scientific fields.

SACRe est aussi un laboratoire (EA 7410) interdisciplinaire unique dédié aux créateurs et l’un des éléments phares de l’������̳. Réunissant cinq grandes écoles d’art et de création et l’ENS, son ambition est de permettre aux créateurs et aux chercheurs d’inventer et d’explorer ensemble les territoires communs de la recherche et de la création. Il réunit artistes confirmés, créateurs, compositeurs, metteurs-en-scène, designers, plasticiens, tout autant que des théoriciens en sciences exactes, humaines et sociales. Chaque thèse du doctorat SACRe consiste ainsi en une création d’œuvres et la mise en œuvre d’une démarche réflexive s’appuyant sur des champs théoriques et scientifiques.

The thesis jury in the dark

Marcus Borja's research work led to three stage creations at CNSAD (professional acting school): (2015); (2016); and (2017). Together, and through multiple experiments, they highlight the essentially musical nature - especially with regard to time-rhythm and choral harmony – of the principles underlying the organization and accomplishment of the theatrical phenomenon.
The defense was an opportunity to present a synthesis of this research work via a choice of live performances with actors-singers and scenarios by plunging, for example, the jury in the dark.

"With the agreement of my director and my co-director of research and the complicity of a choir of 38 outstanding artists , I intended to go beyond the mere quotation of examples: I wanted to “perform” them. And this is for two reasons. First, the very purpose of the SACRe doctorate is to reinterpret the forms and codes of art research through art. It is therefore natural that I extend this "vocation" to the form and the same codes of the thesis defense, just as I did for the conception of the volume that I submitted to the jury: rather than a thesis, I made a book of art. Then, I consider that a course that was choral from the beginning to the end of this adventure could not end with a solo defense. It would be irrelevant and unnatural. So I chose to present some excerpts from two of the three shows from this research project: Theater and Bacchantes – unfortunately, the scenic and technical device of Intranquility did not allow a satisfactory restitution here."

 Extract of one of the performances presented during the defense, ® Thomas Vauthier