Dance Masterclass with Béatrice Massin 

Baroque dance is, more than anything else, a matter of “becoming one” with the music. The stuff of the dancing body is ample and generous, as seen in baroque paintings and sculptures. The precision of gesture and rhythm is not at odds with this fullness, as the technique is based on notions of weight and dropping. The musical dynamics dictate to the dancers the densities of the space in which their mobility remains constant. In this way, space and musical colour are completely mingled and offer the performers a fertile ground in which their personalities can be developed.

Updating : November 2010

After dancing for several contemporary companies, including that of Susan Buirge, Béatrice Massin was engaged by Ris et Danceries in 1983, where for the next ten years she mixed performing with repertoire research, assistantship and choreography. She choreographed “Water Music” by Handel at the Metz Arsenal (1990), “Bastien et Bastienne” (1991), Mozart's “Les Petits Riens” (1991) for the Tourcoing opera workshop and also devised the choreography for “Medée”, set to music by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1983).

In late 1993, Béatrice Massin founded her own company, Fêtes Galantes, for whom she devises one show each year. These are reconstructions of pieces from the baroque repertoire, but, above all, creations using the choreographic vocabulary of the seventeenth century: "Charpentier des ténèbres”, “Carte du tender, “Pipinone”, “Trio triptyque” and most recently, “Que ma joie demeure”. From December 1999 to July 2000, Béatrice Massin devised and directed the choreography for Gérard Corbiau's film “Le roi danse”. In September 2001, Béatrice Massin was invited by the Ballet de Lorraine to devise three baroque choreographies, which include "Noir, du côté de Callot” inspired by Callot's etchings.

Alongside her research and choreographic work, she presents educational programmes at Opéra Bastille, the Cité de la Musique and CND (National Dance Centre) in the form of danced lecture-recitals, courses and workshops. She offers the opportunity to discover baroque court dance as well as reconstructions of pieces from the baroque repertoire.

Source : Website of the Compagnie Fetes galantes

Further information : Company Website

Digital Resource by the Médiathèque du Centre national de la danse

http://mediatheque.cnd.fr/spip.php?page=mediatheque-numerique-ressource&id=PHO00003922

Since 2001, the National Center for Dance (CND) has been making recordings of its shows and educational programming and has created resources from these filmed performances (interviews, danced conferences, meetings with artists, demonstrations, major lessons, symposia specialized, thematic arrangements, etc.).

Through the singularity of its work and the complementarity of its actions, the Fêtes galantes company aims to be, both nationally and internationally, a key player in the promotion and transmission of the French chographic heritage of the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as a place of production and contemporary creation resolutely turned towards the 21st century. Thus, his approach is at the point of singular balance of the creative forces of yesterday and today.  

Source: Fêtes Galantes