Dans sa stridence et son énergie brute, « Jours étranges » se  rapproche de « F. et Stein », créé sept ans plus tôt. Lors de sa  création au Festival de Montpellier, certains professionnels ont pu dire  qu'elle n'était pas « digne » d'un directeur de centre chorégraphique  national. Sur la musique des Doors, la pièce évoque les approches –  premiers émois, jeux, désespoirs passagers, passages à vide – des états  adolescents. Composée à partir d'improvisations des danseurs, sur des  textes littéraires aussi bien que sur des bandes dessinées, « Jours  étranges » n'est informe qu'en apparence. Dominique Bagouet y renonce  aux effets brillants des compositions savantes qui le caractérisent,  brisant ainsi sa propre image médiatique. Il fait reposer la pièce sur  la seule force d'interprétation de ses danseurs aux formidables  personnalités. On se souvient souvent de « Jours étranges » comme d'une  pièce rock, explosive et déjantée ; pourtant, la pièce est aussi pleine  de vides, de flottements, ce que le temps du spectacle autorise  rarement.

A l'été 1993, lors des représentations dont le film rend compte, le  chorégraphe est mort depuis six mois et nombre de danseurs sont revenus  dans la compagnie pour ces ultimes reprises. La puissance de leur jeu,  le débridement du rire comme de la rage, de l'errance comme de  l'ivresse, donnent à cette pièce parfois regardée comme mineure, la  force d'un chef-d'œuvre arraché, plutôt que sculpté, à l'énergie et au  mouvement.

Source : Isabelle Ginot in « Images de la culture n° 19 » – janvier 2005

Création le 4 juillet 1990 au Festival Montpellier Danse 1990 dans la Cour des Ursulines de Montpellier

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

She is a dancer and performer for different choreographers in recent years and currently Boris Charmatz (the lifting of conflicts), Dominique Jégou (such a small space ...), Laurent Pichaud (subtitle), Déborah Hay (If I sing to you and OO ), Emmanuelle Huynh (has emptied huge), and Loïc Touzé (9).
Between 1994 and 2003, it was with Olivia Grandville, Xavier Marchand, Herve Robbe, Alain Michard, Boris Charmatz, Sylvie Giron.
In 1997 and 2000 she gave birth to her two children.
In 1982 she met Dominique Bagouet, joined his company and developed there until 1993.
Since then, she also regularly teaches repertoire pieces in the movement of the association the bagouet notebooks to different companies (Barc Régine Chopinot, Dance Theater of Ireland, Ballet of Lyon, Ballet of the Rhine, Ccn-Ballet of Nancy), schools Dance School (National School of Marseille, CNDC Angers) and develops projects for amateur groups. She teaches punctually in high schools, primary schools, conservatories (Lyon, Paris, Rennes).
As part of the Musée de la Danse in Rennes, in collaboration with Anne-Karine Lescop, she has been offering since 2009 kinder, a workshop for children.
She assists Dominique Jégou in 2010 for a creation intended for the students of the five conservatories of the Brittany region.

Source: Carnets Bagouet

Alain Michard is a choreographer and visual artist. Starting with dance  as his ‘roots’, his work today involves leading a wide range of  different artistic projects, using a variety of artistic media (music,  film, photography, writing).
Alain Michard collaborates regularly with other artists. He also invites  local people and non-professionals to participate in the work he  creates.
 

A common thread in his work is the theme of wandering and journeys, and  the search for a community: BING, based on texts by Beckett, Parkinson  (2007-2013). Some pieces are designed for public spaces, and explore  perception, and the imaginary essence of towns and landscapes:  Promenades blanches (2006-2016), Se fondre (2012), Caravane, ...
Another important focus of his work is research on the notion of a  collective history of art, based on living memory and documents: École  ouverte, J’ai tout donné, Mon Histoire avec la danse, La carpe et le  lapin,...
 

His films include documentaries and fiction, some of which are based on  his relationship with dance (Ascension, Carton, Encore chaud ...).  Recently, he has made two fictional films: ON AIR in 2010, and  Clandestine (a feature length film) in 2014.
 

Alain Michard supports and produces other artists (Theo Kooijman,  Laurent Pichaud, Mickaël Phelippeau, Alice Gautier ...), in his role as  artistic director of different festivals, residencies and events, such  as À domicile in Guissény (2007-2009).
His role as producer allows him to support young artists at the  beginning of their careers. The passing on of knowledge is important for  him, and his pedagogical work is an integral part of, and articulates  with, his creative work, which is open to artists, students and  non-professionals.
 

His work has led him to a diversity of places and countries :
IN FRANCE : Paris (Théâtre de la Cité Internationale, Centre National de  la Danse, Labos d’Aubervilliers, Centre Pompidou, Grande Halle La  Villette, ...), Rennes (PHAKT, Biennale, Triangle, Musée de la danse),  Brest, Nantes (Théâtre Universitaire), Marseille (Théâtre du Merlan,  Marseille Objectif Danse), Bordeaux (TNT, Novart), Avignon (Hivernales),  Marne-la-Vallée (Ferme du Buisson), ...
ABROAD: Italy (Musée Pan-Naples, Osservatorio Nomade-Cursi), Japan  (Kyoto, Tokyo, Yokohama, Matsuyama), Canada (Escales  improbables-Montréal), Turkey (Istanbul, Eskisehir, Ankara), Portugal  (Fondation Serralves-Porto,), UK (Portsmouth), Germany (Berlin), Belgium  (Brussels, Antwerp), Switzerland (Geneva), Ireland (DTI-Dublin)…
 

As a performer he has worked principally for Odile Duboc, Marco  Berrettini, Boris Charmatz, Xavier Marchand (theatre) and Judith Cahen  (cinema).
He has collaborated on various different projects with other artists,  including: Nicolas Floc’h, Mathias Poisson, Jocelyn Cottencin, Stalker,  and choreographers Mustafa Kaplan, Loïc Touzé...
He has received awards from the Villa Kujoyama-Kyoto (2001) and the Villa Médicis Hors les murs-Istanbul (2009).

Source : Alain Michard

More information : 

www.alainmichard.org/

The association Les Carnets Bagouet was created shortly after the death of Dominique Bagouet on December 9 1992.

The choreographer had been directing the national choreographic centre of Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon for twelve years. His early death aroused the desire among his company's dancers to take the responsibility of the heritage left by the choreographer.

-       To think about the means to be developed in order to spread Bagouet's work, pedagogy, and style in a faithful and lively way, and to think about perpetuating his approach.

-       To make of it an active heritage by carrying on showings of his works through stage productions as much as through training of future dancers.

-       To contribute to organize a reflection on the notion of choreographic heritage, through a collective study and using the experiences of every one, as performers of Dominique Bagouet and as contemporary dancers in general who then become ‘passers' according to Laurence Louppe.

Yet, the members of the Carnets Bagouet artistic board do not want to preserve the choreographic repertoire in the traditional sense of the word, they rather want to pass on to the present contemporary dancers, and wherever it will be requested, this ‘state of mind', this ‘changing thinking', and the traces left in them by Dominique Bagouet's dance.

French and foreign dance companies and students in training centres have already rerun some plays since 1993. Complete plays or extracts, shows or simple workshops, they have all allowed the dancers who have taken charge of passing on to refine their approach, and also to perceive more clearly the real issue of this work and its difficulties, always keeping in mind the words the choreographer used to say to his performers:  ‘live in peace with yourself'.

The team of the Carnets Bagouet

Sources: www.lescarnetsbagouet.org

Further information: www.lescarnetsbagouet.org

Last update: October 2014