Choreography by Ivo Cramér
An extract remodelled by Les Danseurs en herbe* (Bagnolet), artistic manager Édith Bellomo, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2015) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).
* CRC Danse de Bagnolet/EPT Est-Ensemble/Grand Paris, Jocus association. 

The group
An ensemble of fourteen dancers, Les Danseurs en herbe hail from the workshops of the Conservatoire de danse de Bagnolet. Set up in 2006, on the initiative of Édith Bellomo, the group is passionate about the recreation of repertoire shows and the question of the survival of choreographic heritage. It has already participated on several occasions in the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme. This apart, the group tries to create links with other structures overseas to promote this work for the transmission and safeguard of historical pieces from the history of dance. For its rehearsals it is welcomed by the CRC Danse de Bagnolet/Est Ensemble directed by Claire Baulieu, and also disposes of a performance space in Les Malassis, Bagnolet. 

The project
By taking on Ivo Cramér’s Drottningholms Suit (1996) the group wished to tackle a traditional classical repertoire of which it had scant knowledge. This piece showcases leaps, turns, and a high degree of mobility of the upper body, while also demanding a solid leg technique. Léna Cederwall, a classical dance teacher and Cramér‘s assistant as from 2001, accepted to collaborate with the interpreters. A member of the Fondation Cramér, she has already remodelled the show and has access to the choreographer’s archives. She uses Benesh notation to transmit the score. The piece is presented in the original costumes. A trip to Sweden and a visit to the Drottingholm Palace Theatre extended this learning process. 

The choreographer
The Swedish dancer and choreographer Ivo Cramér (1921-2009) is well-known for his dramatic stagings on historical and religious subjects. Trained by the great figure of Swedish dance, Birgit Cullberg, he joined her company before going on to direct the Verde Gaio ballet, Lisbon, in 1948-1949. He then took on various positions as ballet master in Europe. On his return to Sweden, he collaborated with the Swedish Royal Ballet that he directed from 1971 to 1980. He has created more than two hundred works, ballets, operas, operettas and musicals, as well as productions for Swedish and foreign television. Among his best known ballets, created around historical or popular themes, he has rebuilt pieces such as Gardel’s La Dansomanie in 1985, Dauberval’s La Fille mal gardée in 1989, and Noverre’s Médée et Jason in 1992. 

Born in 1921.

Swedish ballet dancer, choreographer and director.

A student of S. Leeder and a disciple of B. Cullberg, he developed a personal method influenced by the Laban-Jooss technique. In 1946, he founded his first, itinerant company with B. Cullberg and received second prize at the Copenhagen Choreographic Competition in 1947. He was ballet director at the Verde Gaio in Lisbon (1948-1949), he then worked for ten years as director and choreographer on operettas and musicals.
In 1957, for the Royal Swedish Ballet, he produced “The Prodigal Son" (1957, mus. Alfven), a ballet inspired by rural 18th C paintings and considered “national” masterpieces, and still part of the company’s repertoire. With his wife, Tyyne Talvo, he founded a company (1967-1986) that crossed the country with their productions, including in small theatres. He then directed the Royal Swedish Ballet (1975-1980).
He was a prolific and skilled choreographer with a great sense of theatre. He often dealt with themes connected to history or everyday life and stamped with a deep sense of the religious. In the 1980s, he specialised in the reconstruction of old ballets, including "Arlequin, Magicien d’Amour" (1984, based on Marcadet), “La Dansomanie" (1985, based on P. Gardel), "Médée et Jason" (1992, based on Noverre), presented at the Historic Theatre of Drottningholm, and also in France, thanks to R. Nureyev, as ”La Fille Mal Gardée" (1989) was performed in Nantes with the original score.

Source: Dictionnaire de la Danse, Larousse, éd. 1999, en ligne

From live stage images to life in images, the  director and video artist Karim Zeriahen seems to have found the  shortest way. Since the beginning of the 90s, when he worked in close  relationship with choreographer Philippe Decouflé, he learned how to put  the art of stage in motion, contemporary dance most of the time. Karim  Zeriahen then starts a fruitful collaboration with Montpellier based  choreographer Mathilde Monnier. Stop, Videlilah, day of night, short  films adapted from her stage creations. Each time, Karim Zeriahen's   camera takes over the place with movement, the body language is not  frozen but magnified. Choreographer Herman Diephuis also joins this  gallery of dancing portraits. Documentaries on figures such like Albert  Maysles or Hubert de Givenchy and from Joe Dalessandro to Paul  Morrissey, he sets a signature, a camera always in action with  confidence.

Today the director goes further with a new  project and tracks the subtle movements of the body language beyond the  physical appearance. A collection of living portraits as unique pièces  reminding us of the master portraitists of renaissance. These living  natures consists in filming the subject in a certain amount of time,  almost still, with signs of respiration, eye blinks, as if it were  posing for a painting. They are then displayed on a flat screen with a  memory card. With this collection starting, Karim Zeriahen, with his  documentary and artist vision, interrogates himself about the virtual  world filled with images. By taking a pause, and his models with him, he  questions the way we look at things, the way we look at life.

Source: Philippe Noisette 

En savoir plus: www.karimzeriahen.com

Amateur Dance and Repertory is a companion program to amateur practice beyond the dance class and the technical learning phase. Intended for groups of amateur dancers, it opens a space of sharing for those who wish to deepen a practice and a knowledge of the dance in relation to its history.

Laurent Barré
Head of Research and Choreographic Directories
Anne-Christine Waibel
Research Assistant and Choreographic Directories
+33 (0)1 41 83 43 96
danse-amateur-repertoire@cnd.fr

Source: CN D

More information: https://www.cnd.fr/en/page/323-danse-en-amateur-et-repertoire-grant-programme