(1990 and 1992 creation, second version)
An extract remodelled by the group the Atelier chorégraphique jeunes adultes in Florac, under the artistic direction of Muriel Marie-Augé, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme 2015 (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

Creation for December 6th and 7th 1990 at the Corum, Montpellier, on the occasion of the inauguration, for dance, of the stage of the new Opéra Berlioz.

The group
Under the artistic direction of Muriel Marie-Augé, the Atelier chorégraphique jeunes adultes, made up of thirteen interpreters aged 15 to 19, attends regular classes and training sessions with dancers and choreographers such as Ingeborg Liptay, Jean Pomarès, Hélène Cathala, to name but a few. Set up in Florac (Lozère), it profited from the presence in Montpellier of the choreographer Dominique Bagouet in the early 1980s and kept up strong ties with the dancers and artists close to Bagouet and based in the region. The group works and rehearses at the Genette verte, Florac’s communal cultural centre created in 1997, which is equipped with a performance hall. 

The project
By choosing So schnell (1990 and 1992), Dominique Bagouet’s last work, around the subjects of childhood and adulthood, memory and time, and a writing manifesto against the backdrop of works by the plastic artist Roy Lichtenstein and J.S. Bach’s cantate BWV 26, the association wished to work on space as a playground, on geometric paths, as well as on Bagouet’s characteristic features: journeys, rebounds, the musicality of breath… Rita Cioffi, Bagouet’s interpreter since 1989, undertook the task of transmission to the dancers.

The choreographer
Dominique Bagouet (1951-1992), an emblematic choreographer of French contemporary dance, trained at Rosella Hightower’s school, before completing his apprenticeship with Maurice Béjart in Brussels. In 1980, he became the director of one of the first Centres chorégraphiques nationaux, that of Montpellier. Rooted in classical dance, his detailed writing, subtly burlesque at times, combines gestural precision, quirky elegance and intimate musicality. He has collaborated with a large number of artists such as the composer Pascal Dusapin and the visual artist Christian Boltanski, to name but a few. Since his death in 1992, the association Les Carnets Bagouet, founded by his dancers, has kept and transmitted his works both in France and overseas. 

Angoulême, July 9 1951 - Montpellier, December 9 1992

From 1965, Dominique Bagouet received a classical instruction from Rosella Hightower in Cannes, and was firstly engaged in the Ballet du Grand Théâtre of Geneva at Alfonso Cata's in 1969. He danced the following year with the Félix Blaska's company and joined Béjart's 20th Century Ballet in Brussels. The experience lasted two years and continued with the Chandra group (where Maguy Marin also worked).

Back to Paris in 1974, Dominique Bagouet took tuitions with Carolyn Carlson and Peter Goss. He also danced in the Joseph Russillo's, Anne Béranger's and Peter Goss' companies. Then he left for the United States where he discovered with Jennifer Muller, Lar Lubovitch and others, the techniques of the American schools.

Back to France in 1976, he presented his first choreography “Chansons de nuit” at the Concours de Bagnolet and won the first prize with a mention for research. He then founded his first company. He created play after play, at a fast pace he deplored, in order to make his company survive. Until 1979, he created 14 plays, sometimes hastily and unsatisfactorily.

With “Sous la blafarde”, the young choreographer began to stand out and Montpellier became his haven: the town welcomed the company and gave it the resources to exist as Bagouet was asked to set up and run the Centre Chorégraphique Régional de Montpellier. Besides, he was to create in this town the Festival International Montpellier Danse that he would run until 1982.

Dominique Bagouet created then some of the most outstanding plays in French contemporary choreography, from “Insaisies” (1982) to “Necesito, pièce pour grenade” (1991), the last commission written to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Spanish town.

With plays such as “Déserts d'amour” (1984), “Le Crawl de Lucien” (1985) and “Assaï” (1986), Dominique Bagouet clearly established his own personality and style. All these plays registered his very particular style, sometimes referred to as ‘neobaroque', but above all very subtle and inventive. Bagouet's choreographic approach developed the dance movement with numerous short gestures (movements with hands and feet, special incline of the chest…) with terrific precision and no mannerisms.

Moreover, and this is another characteristic of Bagouet, the choreographer always managed to work with talented artists, such as Christian Boltanski, Pascal Dusapin for “Le Saut de l'ange” (1987), Tristan Murail for “Déserts d'amour” or the actress Nelly Borgeaud for the superb “Meublé sommairement” (1989) choreographically adapted from a novel by Emmanuel Bove.

He also directed two films with Charles Picq: “Tant mieux, tant mieux!” (1983) and “Dix anges, portraits”(1988), from “Le Saut de l'ange".

If a Bagouet style existed, it would also lie in this curiosity which influenced a whole generation.

His company's dancers founded in 1993 Les Carnets Bagouet, an association dedicated to preserving and passing on the choreographer's artistic heritage. They offer the repertoire to other companies and schools.

Source: Extract of “99 biographies pour comprendre la jeune danse française” in les saisons de la danse, summer 97, special issue.

More information: www.lescarnetsbagouet.org

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