So Schnell
2021 - Director : Centre national de la danse, Réalisation
Choreographer(s) : Bagouet, Dominique (France) Legrand, Catherine (France)
Present in collection(s): CN D - Spectacles et performances
Video producer : Centre national de la danse
Integral video available at CND de Pantin
So Schnell
2021 - Director : Centre national de la danse, Réalisation
Choreographer(s) : Bagouet, Dominique (France) Legrand, Catherine (France)
Present in collection(s): CN D - Spectacles et performances
Video producer : Centre national de la danse
Integral video available at CND de Pantin
So Schnell
It was long overdue. Thirty years after its landmark premiere, So Schnell, one of Dominique Bagouet’s masterpieces, is back on stage. In the meantime, it has entered the repertoire of the Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris and the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, and is recreated today by Catherine Legrand, a long-time collaborator of the French choreographer, So Schnell reveals the subtle writing of one of the great names of French New Dance to a new generation. A work “whose primary subject is dance”, asserts Catherine Legrand, So Schnell articulates Johann Sebas-ian Bach’s cantata BWV 26 – as well as silences and sound effects – with a choreography that is both fluid and virtuoso. Dominique Bagouet continued to refine this piece up to his death in 1992. For this new production, Catherine Legrand, who regularly revives and performs Bagouet’s works, has chosen twelve dancers, mixing generations. The colourful costumes and pop scenography of the original make way for a new sobriety and a lighting design by Begoña Garcia Navas that under-lines the architecture of this piece, the work of an artist who has influenced the entire contemporary scene.
Source : programme du CN D
Bagouet, Dominique
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
Legrand, Catherine
Danseuse, interprète, enseignante. En 1982, elle rencontre Dominique Bagouet, rejoint sa compagnie et y danse jusqu’en 1993. Depuis lors, elle transmet régulièrement le répertoire de Dominique Bagouet dans le mouvement de l’association les Carnets Bagouet à différentes compagnies. En 2012, en collaboration avec Anne Karine Lescop et Le Triangle de Rennes, elle recrée Jours étranges pour un groupe de danseurs adolescents. Entre 1992 et encore aujourd’hui, elle est interprète pour Michel Kelemenis, Olivia Grandville et Xavier Marchand, Hervé Robbe, Alain Michard, Boris Charmatz, Sylvie Giron, Laurent Pichaud, Deborah Hay, Loic Touzé, Emmanuelle Huynh, Dominique Jégou. En 2016-2017, elle crée une nouvelle reprise de Jours étranges de Dominique Bagouet dans une version exclusivement féminine, dont la première a été donnée au Triangle de Rennes dans le cadre du festival du TNB « Mettre en scène » en 2016 (puis en tournée en France avec 25 représentations).
Elle prend part au nouveau mouvement du collectif Rennais de danseurs et chorégraphes, Réservoir Danse, dans le cadre duquel elle donne notamment des ateliers de partage du répertoire. En 2017, Catherine Legrand danse la nouvelle création d’Hervé Robbe, A New Landscape. En 2018, elle rejoint en tournées la Cie DCA-Philippe Decouflé comme assistante. Elle dirige deux sessions de transmission de répertoire de Dominique Bagouet, au CNDC d’Angers et au Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et danse de Paris (CNSMDP). Elle créé Un Tracé, duo, en compagnie de Brigitte Châtaignier, et danse Engelsam, en jeu la nouvelle pièce de Katja Fleig, Actuellement, Catherine Legrand travaille sur la création de trois nouveaux projets : So Schnell de Dominique Bagouet, récréation 2020 ; Suite pour Tango, projet pour 24 interprètes, en collaboration avec Olivier Ferec, d’après le film Tango de Zbigniew Rybczynski ; et adaptation de Jours étranges pour 12 danseurs amateurs, sur une commande de Dominique Boivin.
Source : site du Triangle (Rennes)
Centre national de la danse, Réalisation
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.).
So Schnell
Artistic direction / Conception : Catherine Legrand
Artistic direction assistance / Conception : Assistant artistique Dominique Jégou - Assistante à la transmission Annabelle Pulcini
Choreography : Dominique Bagouet
Interpretation : Nuno Bizarro, Ève Bouchelot, Yann Cardin, Florence Casanave, Meritxell Checa Esteban, Élodie Cottet, Vincent Dupuy, Élise Ladoué, Théo Le Bruman, Louis Macqueron, Thierry Micouin, Annabelle Pulcini
Additionnal music : Jean-Sébastien Bach, Laurent Gachet
Lights : Begoña Garcia Navas
Costumes : Mélanie Clénet
Sound : Thomas Poli
Other collaborations : Administratrice de production Julie Besserova
Production / Coproduction of the video work : Enregistré au CND le 22 juin 2021 dans le cadre de Camping 2021
Bagouet Collection
New breath : 21st century youth enters the world of dance
DANCE AND DIGITAL ARTS
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Presentation of the Round’s figure in choreography.
The Dance Biennale
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Hand dances
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40 years of dance and music
The national choreographic centres
Roots of Diversity in Contemporary Dance
Noé Soulier Rethinking our movements
A Rite of Passage
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Reinterpreting works: Swan Lake, Giselle
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Strange works
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