Ragtime
1981
Choreographer(s) : Nikolaïs, Alwin (United States)
Present in collection(s): CNDC - Angers
Video producer : CNDC Angers
Ragtime
1981
Choreographer(s) : Nikolaïs, Alwin (United States)
Present in collection(s): CNDC - Angers
Video producer : CNDC Angers
Ragtime
Nikolaïs, Alwin
Alwin Nikolaïs was born in 1910 in Southington, Connecticut. He studied piano at an early age and began his performing career as an organist accompanying silent films. As a young artist he gained skills in scenic design, acting, puppetry and music composition. It was after attending a performance by the illustrious German dancer Mary Wigman that he was inspired to study dance. He received his early dance training at Bennington College from the great figures of the modern dance world: Hanya Holm, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Louis Horst, and others. In 1940, in collaboration with Truda Kaschmann, his first modern dance teacher Mr. Nikolais received a commission to create « Eight Column Line », his first ballet. In 1948, Mr. Nikolais was appointed director of the Henry Street Playhouse, where he formed the Playhouse Dance Company, later renamed and known as the Nikolais Dance Theatre. It was at Henry Street that Mr. Nikolais began to develop his own world of abstract dance theatre, portraying man as part of a total environment. His unique choreographic works placed him in a realm previously untouched by other choreographers. Mr. Nikolais redefined dance, as “the art of motion which, left on its own merits, becomes the message as well as the medium.“
While developing his choreography, Mr. Nikolais' lifelong interest in music led him to create his own scores. Choreographer, composer, scenic and costume designer, has blended his many talents into a single aesthetic force. In a career that has spanned five decades, he has left his imprint on every theatrical medium, from Broadway to television. Whenever there is something new, his hand is evident. His lighting wonders, his sound scores, his choreography, and his costumes have influenced the contemporary stage and a generation of choreographers. Mr. Nikolais is the creator of the internationally acclaimed Nikolais Dance Theater and the genius responsible for dozens of visual masterpieces. As a uniquely original exponent of American contemporary dance he toured throughout Europe and subsequent tours to South America and the Far East. Mr. Nikolais is renowned as a master teacher, and his pedagogy is taught in schools and universities throughout the world. He passed away May 8, 1993 and is buried in Pere La Chaisse cemetery in Paris.
Source: Nikolais/Louis Foundation for dance Inc.
More information: nikolaislouis.org
Ragtime
Artistic direction / Conception : Alwin Nikolais
Interpretation : Catherine Vesque et Louis Ziegler, Manuelle Robert et Philippe Decouflé, Christine Graz et Philippe Priasso
Additionnal music : Scott Joplin
Lights : Ronny Bundt, assisté de Bernard Boileau
Production / Coproduction of the choreographic work : CNDC Angers
CHRISTIAN & FRANÇOIS BEN AÏM – VITAL MOMENTUM
[1970-2018] Neoclassical developments: They spread worldwide, as well as having multiple repertoires and dialogues with contemporary dance.
In the 1970s, artists’ drive towards a new classic had been ongoing for more than a half century and several generations had already formed since the Russian Ballets. As the years went by, everyone defended or defends classical dance as innovative, unique, connected to the other arts and the preoccupations of its time.
DANCE AND DIGITAL ARTS
Strange works
Unconventional contemporary dance shows which reinvent the rapport to the stage.
Artistic Collaborations
Panorama of different artistic collaborations, from « couples » of choreographers to creations involving musicians or plasticians
The Dance Biennale
Contemporary Italian Dance : the 2000s
Panorama of contemporary dance practices in Italy during the 2000s.
Arts of motion
Generally associated with circus arts, here is a Journey that will take you on a stroll through different artists from this world.
Contemporary techniques
This Parcours questions the idea that contemporary dance has multiples techniques. Different shows car reveal or give an idea about the different modes of contemporary dancer’s formations.
Les Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis
VAISON DANSES
40 years of dance and music
The “Nouvelle Danse Française” of the 1980s
In France, at the beginning of the 1980s, a generation of young people took possession of the dancing body to sketch out their unique take on the world.
The national choreographic centres
A Rite of Passage
Write the movement
Käfig, portrait of a company
When reality breaks in
States of the body
Explanation of the term « State of the body » when it’s about dance.
Ballet pushed to the edge
Ballet’s evolution from its romantic form until néo-classicism.