Devised during the First World War, this ballet answers Diaghilev's desire to change his artistic universe and introduce the modernist orientation that the Ballet Russes would follow. As the war and the revolution had cut him off from Russia, he now called upon western collaborators, notably Pablo Picasso.  The latter was fascinated by the ballet world he saw, and his personality soon dominated the whole production of the work. Picasso liked the subject matter of the ballet, as he had a predilection for the theme of acrobats himself. The two trends shown in his work during his stay in Italy can be seen in the relatively realistic backdrop and also in the cubist-style sets and costumes. As for Satie's music, this contributes a concise modernity full of clarity and humour, which is not afraid of making the occasional incursion into jazz.

Source : Maison de la Danse programme

(1895-1979)
 

Trained in theatre and dance at the Bolshoi Theatre School, he joined the Ballet in 1912. In 1913 he was engaged by Serge Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes, where he was the first to dance the title role in “The Legend of Joseph” and completed his training with Enrico Cecchetti. He choreographed his first ballet, “Midnight Sun”, in 1915 and from then on embarked upon a double career as both dancer and choreographer. He left the Ballets Russes in 1921, danced in South America and in Great Britain, came back to choreography for the “Soirées d'Etienne de Beaumont” (1924) and returned to work for Diaghilev from 1925 to 1928, also contributing to shows for the Cochran Review in London (1925-1926) and the Roxy Theater in New York until 1930. He collaborated with the Rubinstein company (1928 et 1931) and, from 1932, with the Monte-Carlo Ballets Russes. He was guest choreographer at the American Ballet Theater in New York (1942-1943), and at the Marquis de Cuevas' Ballet International in 1944. In 1945-1946, he directed his own company, Ballet Russe Highlights, then returned to Europe where he created or revived works for Sadler's Wells Ballet, the Ballets des Champs Élysées, La Scala Milan, the Opéra-comique in Paris, the Marquis de Cuevas' Grand Ballet and Rome Opera House. In 1960, he founded Balletto Europeo for the Nervi festival. He was invited to revive his work all over the world right up until his death.
 

A dancer adulated by audiences for his stage presence and vivacity, he excelled in character and demi-character roles and translated the diversity of styles with a great sense of movement and theatricality. He performed little of the repertoire, appearing in the tarantella in “Swan Lake” at the Bolshoi, and although he appeared at the Ballet Russes in Michel Fokine's works, he went on to dance in his own ballets, marking them with his own personality: the Chinaman in “Parade”, the Miller in “The Three-Cornered Hat”, the Cancan Dancer in “La Boutique Fantasque”, the Peruvian Tourist in “Gaîté Parisienne”, the Hussar in “Beau Danube Bleu” (1933) and the Young Musician in “Symphonie Fantastique”. His many experimental choreographies display his sense of humour and taste for burlesque, his fondness for dance with a Russian, Spanish or Commedia dell'Arte character, and his interest in modern art. He made a success of tackling religious themes. In all his works, he imposed a modern concept of academic dance in the neoclassical style. His movement, marked by an angular aesthetic, integrated comic facial expression into dance and favoured spontaneous and vivacious movement in choreographies which do not allow for the slightest pause.

Source: Dictionnaire de la Danse, Philippe Le Moal, Larousse, 1999

More information : massine-ballet.com

Erik Satie, original name in full Eric Alfred Leslie Satie,  (born May 17, 1866, Honfleur,  Calvados, France—died July 1, 1925, Paris), French composer whose  spare, unconventional, often witty style exerted a major influence on  20th-century music, particularly in France.

Satie  studied at the Paris Conservatory, dropped out, and later worked as a  café pianist. About 1890 he became associated with the Rosicrucian movement and wrote several works under its influence, notably the Messe des pauvres (composed 1895; Mass of the Poor). In 1893, when he was 27, Satie had a stormy affair with the painter Suzanne Valadon. From 1898 he lived alone in Arcueil, a Paris suburb, cultivating an eccentric mode of life and permitting no one to enter his apartment. Beginning in 1905, he studied at the Schola Cantorum under Vincent d’Indy and Albert Roussel for three years. About 1917 the group of young composers known as Les Six adopted him as their patron saint. Later the School of Arcueil, a group including Darius Milhaud, Henri Sauguet, and Roger Désormiere, was formed in his honour.

Satie’s music represents the first definite break with 19th-century French Romanticism; it also stands in opposition to the works of composer Claude Debussy. Closely allied to the Dada and Surrealist movements in art, it refuses to become involved with grandiose sentiment or transcendent significance, disregards traditional forms and tonal structures, and characteristically takes the form of parody, with flippant titles, such as Trois morceaux en forme de poire (1903; Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear) and Embryons Desséchés (1913; Desiccated Embryos),  and directions to the player such as “with much illness” or “light as  an egg,” meant to mock works such as Debussy’s preludes.

Satie’s flippancy and eccentricity, an intimate part of his musical aesthetic, epitomized the avant-garde  ideal of a fusion of art and life into an often startling but unified  personality. He sought to strip pretentiousness and sentimentality from  music and thereby reveal an austere essence. This desire is reflected in piano pieces such as Trois Gnossiennes (1890), notated without bar lines or key signatures. Other early piano pieces, such as Trois Sarabandes (1887) and Trois Gymnopédies (1888), use then-novel chords that reveal him as a pioneer in harmony. His ballet Parade (1917; choreographed by Léonide Massine, scenario by Jean Cocteau, stage design and costumes by Pablo Picasso)  was scored for typewriters, sirens, airplane propellers, ticker tape,  and a lottery wheel and anticipated the use of jazz materials by Igor Stravinsky and others. The word Surrealism was used for the first time in Guillaume Apollinaire’s program notes for Parade. Satie’s masterpiece, Socrate for four sopranos and chamber orchestra (1918), is based on the dialogues of Plato. His last, completely serious piano works are the five Nocturnes (1919). Satie’s ballet Relâche (1924) contains a Surrealistic film sequence by René Clair; the film score Entr’acte, or Cinéma, serves as an example of his ideal background, or “furniture,” music.

Satie was dismissed as a charlatan  by musicians who misunderstood his irreverence and wit. They also  deplored the nonmusical influences in his life—during his last 10 years  his best friends were painters, many of whom he had met while a café  pianist. Satie was nonetheless deeply admired by composers of the rank  of Darius Milhaud, Maurice Ravel,  and, in particular, Claude Debussy—of whom he was an intimate friend  for close to 30 years. His influence on French composers of the early  20th century and on the later school of Neoclassicism was profound.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

Author, filmmaker and video artist Charles Picq (1952-2012) entered working life in the 70s through theatre and photography. A- fter resuming his studies (Maîtrise de Linguistique - Lyon ii, Maîtrise des sciences et Techniques de la Communication - grenoble iii), he then focused on video, first in the field of fine arts at the espace Lyonnais d'art Contemporain (ELAC) and with the group « Frigo », and then in dance.
   On creation of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon in 1980, he was asked to undertake a video documentation project that he has continued ever since. During the ‘80s, a decade marked in France by the explosion of contemporary dance and the development of video, he met numerous artists such as andy Degroat, Dominique Bagouet, Carolyn Carlson, régine Chopinot, susanne Linke, Joëlle Bouvier and regis Obadia, Michel Kelemenis. He worked in the creative field with installations and on-stage video, as well as in television with recorded shows, entertainment and documentaries.

His work with Dominique Bagouet (80-90) was a unique encounter. He documents his creativity, assisting with Le Crawl de Lucien and co-directing with his films Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux and 10 anges. in the 90s he became director of video development for the Maison de la Danse and worked, with the support of guy Darmet and his team, in the growing space of theatre video through several initiatives:
       - He founded a video library of dance films with free public access. This was a first for France. Continuing the video documentation of theatre performances, he organised their management and storage.
       - He promoted the creation of a video-bar and projection room, both dedicated to welcoming school pupils.
       - He started «présentations de saisons» in pictures.
       - He oversaw the DVD publication of Le tour du monde en 80 danses, a pocket video library produced by the Maison de la Danse for the educational sector.

       - He launched the series “scènes d'écran” for television and online. He undertook the video library's digital conversion and created Numeridanse.

His main documentaries are: enchaînement, Planète Bagouet, Montpellier le saut de l'ange, Carolyn Carlson, a woman of many faces, grand ecart, Mama africa, C'est pas facile, Lyon, le pas de deux d'une ville, Le Défilé, Un rêve de cirque.

He has also produced theatre films: Song, Vu d'ici (Carolyn Carlson), Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux, 10 anges, Necesito and So schnell, (Dominique Bagouet), Im bade wannen, Flut and Wandelung (Susanne Linke), Le Cabaret Latin (Karine Saporta), La danse du temps (Régine Chopinot), Nuit Blanche (Abou Lagraa), Le Témoin (Claude Brumachon), Corps est graphique (Käfig), Seule et WMD (Françoise et Dominique Dupuy), La Veillée des abysses (James Thiérrée), Agwa (Mourad Merzouki), Fuenteovejuna (Antonio Gades), Blue Lady revistied (Carolyn Carlson).

Source: Maison de la Danse de Lyon

Artistic Direction: Jean-Albert Cartier

Creation: 1999

Europa Dance was founded in 1999 by Jean Albert Cartier, inspired by Claudio Abbado's Youth Orchestra. Why not apply what has worked so well for young musicians to young dancers, by offering them the necessary bridge between the end of their studies and their entry into professional life? To this end, Europa Dance has hosted nearly 250 dancers aged between 16 and 21 since it was founded. Classically-trained, they have been selected with the assistance of Hélène Traïline, from European conservatoires and private schools. After eight years, 90% of the dancers trained at the Europa Dance Academy are dancing professionally. Some are already starring in major international ballet companies such as the San Francisco Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre, the Het National Ballet of Amsterdam, the English National Ballet, the Culberg Ballet and the companies of Jiri Kilian, Nacho Duato, John Neumeier, Lyon Opera, etc.

Source: Maison de la Danse show program