(Death and the Maiden) [2018 remodelled version]

An extract remodelled by La Mécanique du Bonheur (Blois, Centre-Val de Loire), artistic manager Suzanne Guichard, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2017/2018) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

Transmission by Raphaël Cottin.

Presented on 26 May 2018, Les 2 Scènes, Théâtre Ledoux, Besançon.

The piece when it was created

Firstly produced from 15 to 21 March 2012 at the Théâtre national de Chaillot in Paris

Choreoraphy: Thomas Lebrun

Piece for 7 performers:  Odile Azagury, Anthony Cazaux, Raphaël Cottin, Christine Gérard, Anne-Sophie Lancelin, Corinne Lopez, Christian Ubl

Music: La Jeune Fille et la mort, Schubert, String Quartet n°14, D.810, Lied opus 7 n° 13, D 351

Original duration: 1h

The group

La Mécanique du bonheur (Blois, Centre-Val de Loire)

The group is derived from the contemporary dance association for seniors, La Mécanique du Bonheur, created in 2010. Either seniors or over 50, some people had never danced before participating in the workshops, while others had attended classes from a very early age. They all find in contemporary dance an opportunity to continue practising a physical activity allowing them to keep fit and express their creativity. 

The project 

Thomas Lebrun is the director of the CCN de Tours, a city close to Blois where the association La Mécanique du Bonheur is based. The amateur dancers have worked for several years with the choreographer Simon Choplain, who creates with them an annual show based on personal compositions and improvisations. They thought it necessary to try out a new working method: learning and studying in depth the choreographic writing of a repertoire piece. Thomas Lebrun proposed that the group revive an extract from his piece La jeune fille et la mort (Death and the Maiden), suited to the technical level and physical abilities of the group. The maiden in the piece is confronted with the different ages of life and comes across women marked by time. These were the themes that made this group want to immerse itself in this work. 

Thomas Lebrun has danced for Bernard Glandier, Daniel Larrieu, Christine Bastin, Christine Jouve and Pascal Montrouge, and founded the Illico company in 1998, after composing the solo “Cache Ta Joie!“. Based in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, he was first of all an associated artist at Vivat, Armentières (2003-2005) before taking on a similar role in 2006 at Danse à Lille CDC (Centre for Choreographic Development). “On prendra bien le temps d'y être”, “(La) Trêves” “Les Soirées What You Want?”, “Switch”, “Itinéraire d'un danseur grassouillet” and now “La Constellation Consternée” are all works that are also aesthetic worlds which are explored, allying demanding and precise dance with an assertive theatricality.

Thomas Lebrun has also composed a number of pieces in collaboration, notably with the Swiss choreographer Foofwa d'Imobilité (“Le Show” / “Un Twomen Show”) and the French choreographer Cécile Loyer (Que tál!), and makes training and teaching a priority. She teaches at the CND (National Dance Centre) in Pantin and Lyon, Ménagerie de Verre, La Rochelle Conservatoire, Balletéatro de Porto, etc.

He has also choreographed for foreign companies, such as the Liaonning National Ballet in China, Grupo Tapias in Brazil (a solo and, in 2009, a quintet for the Year of France in Brazil) and for Loreta Juodkaité, the Lithuanian dancer

in the 2009 edition of the New Baltic Dance Festival in Vilnius et for FranceDanse Vilnius managed by  CulturesFrance (Vilnius, European cultural capital 2009).

In 2012, Thomas Lebrun becomes the new artistic director for the Centre chorégraphique national de Tours.

Further information

CCN Tours

Last update : May 2011

Film director, Ivan Chaumeille, has worked with choreographer Dominique Brun a long time, most notably in the production of + One (2014), a creative documentary scheduled as part of the festival “Vidéodanse”, in the editing of which Rafaël Gubitsch participated; he filmed and edited two versions of Afternoon of a faun, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinski for the film Le Faune -un film ou la fabrique de l’archive. He also carried out interviews, and devised and formulated the ROM and video dimensions of the DVD (2007). He shot video sequences for the show Medea-Stimmen by Virginie Mirbeau, created at Festival Les Météores CNN du Havre (2008). With a background in philosophy, he produced a creative documentary entitled Avec François Châtelet, un voyage différentiel (2010) for the collection “À Contre-temps” in co-production with Groupe Galactica, Mosaïque films and Canal 15.

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