About the two performances: Les pas perdus [The Lost Steps] and Aranzaquil

The creation of these two performances at La Maison de la Danse in December 1983 was an opportunity for me personally to produce my first group performance after a rather unfortunate experience two years previously during the Festival d'Avignon.

I had been relatively inexperienced in communication with regard to by creations and, to boot, I can't remember whether there was a chance to write a few introductory lines for the programme to be distributed to visitors.

I would like to use this archiving opportunity to look back at what it was that underlay the writing of these two ballets, considered to be a genuine diptych.

At the time, I was a regular visitor of Peter Brook's creations at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord and was deeply moved by his film "Meetings with Remarkable Men" based on the 1979 work by Georges Gurdjeff.

The film traced Gurdjeff's spiritual quest in search of a mysterious brotherhood which he finally encountered in the Gobi Desert after a long trip. He discovered a small community for whom the search for spiritual elevation involved assiduous practice of music and dance. There was, moreover, a dance scene which particularly impressed me through its sheer clarity and power. 

However, above all, this film revealed the existence of a tradition, the like of which I was previously unaware, of which both the initiative and community dimension further reinforced the aspiration of bringing together the spiritual search and artistic practice which I harboured at this time.

These two performances hosted in 1983 in Lyon were, for me, a manner of portraying the deep impact of this film.

Les pas perdus [The Lost Steps] was, therefore, created on the basis of elements which had really left a strong impression on me during this dance scene in the film, that of the rigorous construction and geometry based on the ubiquitous rhythmic nature. I asked Denis Levaillant to pen a partition in nine acts which would offer a series of internal combinations, and he proposed that this be played by Youval Missenmacher on a Zarb, which is a traditional Iranian percussion instrument.

I wrote a dozen choreographic phrases over these nine acts on which almost the entire dance would be based, playing with a host of orientations throughout these phrases, combined with combinations of duos, trios and quartets, etc.

However, from the very outset I knew that this dance would only form part of the programme and that there should be a follow-up which showed the threat which I felt weighed over the transmission of certain traditions. 

And so, I imagined a second section in the form of a debacle by a small group of people violently chased out of their territories and forced into an exodus cutting them off from their cultural roots. I invented the name of a village, "Aranzaquil", which for me was located in Afghanistan, before the invasion of the Soviet Union.

This part of the diptych, unlike the first, written as a full partition, was made up of a hotchpotch of scenes all resulting from improvisations proposed to dancers on the basis of various themes related to exodus, deportation and the loss of cultural and spiritual landmarks, of which the sequence shows the progression of the internal uprooting of the characters.

In this second part of the composition the music followed that of the dance, with Denis Levaillant coming to the studio in person to watch the writing in progress of the various successive sequences and composing the music as this was happening.

Costumes and set design were developed and produced by Francis Coulet. Costumes were inspired by traditional village clothing (based on Japanese kimonos), in a ritual manner in the first act and on a more daily basis in the second.

Lighting was created by John Davis, who I knew well as lighting technical director for Carolyn Carlson at the GRTOP.

This was the second time I had worked with Denis Levaillant after our duo "D. D. Blue Gold Digger" presented at the Georges Pompidou Centre in 1982.

Dominique PETIT

December 2021

The dancer, choreographer and teacher Dominique Petit, born in France in 1950, discovered dance at nineteen with Kilina Crémona. He left to train in New York from 1970 to 1974 where he met the choreographer Paul Sanasardo, who taught him the technique of American “modern dance” and included him as a dancer in his company. Back in France, Dominique Petit will complete his training with Carolyn Carlson. She was then in the process of setting up the GRTOP (Theatrical Research Group of the Paris Opera) and hired the young dancer into the troupe. He thus participated in all the group's creations from 1975 to 1980. He drew in particular from this experience “the discovery and deepening of the work of improvisation and choreographic composition” (see the biography written by Nadine Raso present in the collection at PETI rating 98).

Dominique Petit created a first solo in 1979, “Variations”, at an invitation from the Ballet de Poche (Grenoble), then, after the dissolution of GRTOP in 1980 (Carolyn Carlson left for Venice), he multiplied collaborations and worked with Caroline Marcadé (he co-directs with her the Studio des quatre temps in La Défense and performs for example with her the duo “Pierre Robert”), Régine Chopinot and even François Verret. 

He also founded his own company at the end of 1980, within which he created around twenty pieces including a first solo, “Igor Urstark” (creation at the Avignon Festival in 1981), accompanied by Barre Phillips (who would also collaborate on the following piece “Amarante flagrante radio show” in 1981). Other musical collaborations will follow, notably with saxophonist Steve Lacy and composer Denis Levaillant. Above all, he collaborates in a privileged way with his partner, the dancer and choreographer Anne Carrié, the company alternating the creations of one and the other. They co-wrote certain pieces such as their duet “Jade” (1984) which brought them real recognition. Dominique Petit's play for six male performers entitled “Les Tournesols”, created in 1988, enjoyed international success and led to a film adaptation by Claude Val in 1991.

The company tours extensively in France and abroad, notably in more than fifteen Latin American countries, whose culture will inspire the latest pieces created by the choreographer, such as his solo “A Portabales” created in 1995, on the music of the Cuban singer of the same name, or “Salsita” (1996), a piece choreographed to salsa rhythms.

From 1996, Dominique Petit devoted himself entirely to teaching, becoming study coordinator and repertory tutor for the CNDC in Angers until 2000. This educational activity is far from being new for the dancer: already a permanent teacher at the CNDC in Angers between 1984 and 1987, he obtained the diploma of the certificate of aptitude for the functions of dance teacher in 1989. He then set up a continuing education program for dancers from 1994 to 1997 in partnership with the ARCAMC des Pays-de-Loire, the CNDC L'Esquisse and the Scène nationale du Manège (La Roche-sur-Yon). Among many other educational experiences, Dominique Petit was appointed by the Ministry of Culture for educational missions in Chile, Peru and Bolivia. Finally he was appointed professor of contemporary dance at ENMDAD in La Roche-sur-Yon in 2000 and taught there until 2015.

Dominique Petit is also in demand as a performer, dancing for example in 2000 for Régis Obadia or in 2009 for Daniel Dobbels, until 2019 when he plays an important role in “Outwitting the Devil” by Akram Khan.

In March 2020, in full confinement of the population following the Covid-19 epidemic, he created a filmed choreographic piece entitled “La der' des der'”, a solo inspired by the words of the President of the Republic announcing the “ war” against the coronavirus.

Source : Centre national de la danse

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