“The confrontation of these dances gives me the opportunity to retain their common denominator, the hands.”
Today, with Noli [Toucher au vif], I’m continuing the project inaugurated for the Ballet de Lorraine (whose Danses crues premiere took place at the Opéra de Nancy in 2022). I take the folk dances from Nuit de Saint-Jean and relate them to other Macedonian folk dances, taken from a documentary film by Rudolf Sremec (1948). I reinvent them by simplifying and stripping them down, but also by letting each one exist according to its own rhythm, without trying to smooth out their respective consistencies with a single tempo. Confronting these dances gives me the opportunitý to retain their common denominator, the hands. These anonymous dances are the raw material for Noli [Touché au vif].
From Nuit de Saint Jean , I also retain the concept of the “synthesis of the arts” implemented by the Swedish Ballet between 1920 and 1925. To this end, I bring together “scenes of writing” borrowed from literature, painting, photography and film, representing the feast of St. John and its farandoles and, by association, summer, fires, harvests, rounds, hands, desire, death… For example, we hear a poetic text by Marguerite Duras describing the negative hands found on the walls of Magdalenian caves. We see one of the first French folklorists, Arnold Van Gennep, lighting the bonfire that night, Jean-Baptiste, his patron saint… These “writing scenes” allow me to explore issues related to hands and touch, and to make them resonate with current events (pandemics, touch without consent…).
Dominique Brun
Performer and choreographer, Dominique Brun is co-founder of the La Salamandre company (1980 to 1988), with which she won third prize in the 1981 Bagnolet international "Ballet for Tomorrow" competition. Le Ballet pour demain", and also co-founder of the Quatuor Albrecht Knust (1994 to 2003), with whom she recreates dances from the historical repertoire based on scores drawn up in the Laban system. After disbanding the Quatuor Albrecht Knust, Dominique Brun created Siléo (2004), based on a text by Wajdi Mouawad and interwar dances by Valeska Gert, Kurt Jooss, Dore Hoyer, Doris Humphrey and Mary Wigman.
In 2007, Dominique Brun produced an educational DVD devoted to Vaslav Nijinsky's L'Après-midi d'un faune (1912).At Jan Kounen's invitation, she recreates excerpts from Nijinsky's 1913 Rite of Spring for the film Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2010), using archive material from the period.
Supported by L'Association du 48, directed by dancer and choreographer Sylvain Prunenec, she continued her research into the "Sacre" with a diptych: Sacre # 197 (2012) and Sacre # 2 (2014). She concludes this cycle devoted to Nijinsky's work with the creation of Jeux - Trois études pour sept petits paysages aveugles (2017). This was followed by Les Perles ne font pas le collier , a piece she co-wrote and danced with Sylvain Prunenec (2018).Finally, she creates Le Poids des choses & Pierre et le Loup, her first show for young audiences (and all audiences) based on Rudolf Laban's Effort system (2019).
In parallel with her research into movement, Dominique Brun has developed a special artistic taste for the relationship between music and dance. In 2016, her encounter with the orchestra Les Siècles, conducted by François-Xavier Roth, led to the sharing of the same stage, that of the Philharmonie de Paris, for a project entitled Hommage à Nijinski , which toured as far as China.
Dominique Brun now turns her attention to two major works by Bronislava Nijinska. Her reinterpretation of Les Noces and Le Bolero is as much choreographic as it is dramaturgical and musical.The future of Les Noces and Le Bolero lies between tradition and interpretation, between written traces and choreographic inventions, in the metamorphoses of music and dance.
Studio’s opening: Thursday, April 24, 2025 at 7:30pm
Free on reservation: adriana.falcone@ccnr.fr
Premieres: autumn 2025, La Roche sur Yon and/or Chambéry (in progress)
Concept & choreography: Dominique Brun assisted by Marie Orts
Deciphering and interpreting dances (distribution in progress): Roméo Agid, Zoé Bleher, Florent Brun, Clarisse Chanel, Lou Cantor, Faustine Debrabant, Maxime Guillon- Roi-Sans-sac, Clément Lecigne, François Malbranque, Marie Orts, Annabelle Rosenow, Jean Soubirou
Music: David Christoffel
Lighting design: Éric Wurtz
Scenography: Odile Blanchard
Set design: Atelier Devineau
Costume design: Marie Labarelle
Video editing: Bérangère Goossens, Ivan Chaumeille
Production and distribution: Bruno Seroin-Joly
Production: Les porteurs d’ombre
Coproduciton: in progress…
Photo: Noli, touché au vif © Nom