About "La danse, une histoire à ma façon" / creation 1994

In this extract Dominique Boivin talks about the solo “La danse, une histoire à ma façon”, created in 1994.

This interview was recorded at the CND (Centre national de la danse) in Pantin in 2005.

Resource by the médiathèque du Centre national de la danse
http://mediatheque.cnd.fr/spip.php?page=mediatheque-numerique-ressource&id=PHO00003944

Updating: December 2010

[Dance, a story following my own way] 

“Writing this solo was a seemingly impossible task for me: how can one body alone (mine in this case) evoke the history of dance, tackle different styles, periods and refer to both male and female characters?

I chose to cite artists whose work has influenced my own artistic progress, linking them chronologically. I set myself the challenge of going from prehistory up to the present day and, as I am not a historian, favoured my own point of view as a choreographer.

I concentrated particularly on twentieth century choreographers, as their work seems less well understood by the general public than those of the classical period. I wanted to weave together all these chorographic adventures, to show the dynamic which animates an artist when he constructs a work in continuity with or in reaction to those who have gone before. Each sequence is intended as a light homage, as in being too deferential, I risk fossilising, and so misrepresenting, an artist's work. Seen in a new light, it can be restored to the context of a live show.

This solo has become a faithful companion of which I have grown fond, and so I imagine myself being able to carry on dancing it until I am 80.”

Dominique Boivin

Updating: November 2010

Dominique Boivin followed a classical training before turning to contemporary dance. Carolyn Carlson and the dancers of the GRCOP (Choreographic Research Group of the Paris Opera) introduced him to the teaching of Alwin Nikolais. His first piece, “Quelle fut ta soif?”, won the Humour Prize at the Bagnolet Contest in 1978. In the summer of 1979 he created the solo “L'homme cheval” for the Avignon Festival, which consists of minute, mathematically-orchestrated gestures. In 1979 he obtained a bursary to study in New York for a year, where he trained with Merce Cunningham, Douglas Dunn, Lucinda Childs and Meg Harper.

When he was invited to join the company of the CNDC (National Centre for Contemporary Dance), Angers, directed at the time by Alwin Nikolais, he met many of the dancers with whom he went on to form the Beau Geste company in 1981.

Dominique Boivin danced with a number of companies (Grand Magasin / P. Murtin, F. Hiffler, DCA/P. Decouflé, Astrakan/ D. Larrieu) in between choreographing his own works: "Belles de Nuit“ in 1991, “Carmen” in 1992, “La Belle Etoile” in 1993, “Cabaret Pataphysique” (Pataphysical Cabaret) in 1993. His solo “La danse, une histoire à ma façon...“ (Dance – a history told my way) from 1994, revived in 2000, is a brilliant presentation of the culture of subtle gesture which underpins his choreography. He has choreographed for the operas “Orphée aux Enfers” in Geneva (1997) and "Les Amours de Bastien et Bastienne” in Rouen and Paris (2002), as well as a reworking of the ballet “The Nutcracker” for the Ballet de l'Opéra de Lyon (2001). At the same time, he continued composing for the Beau Geste company: "Petites histoires au-dessus du ciel” in 1996, “Conte sur Moi” in 2000 and “Miniatures de l'Émoi” in 2003.

He collaborated with La Petite Fabrique to choreograph the duet “The Lion and The Rat” as part of the “Les Fables à La Fontaine” project in 2002 and with the Non de Nom/Pascale Houbin company, with whom he composed “Bonté Divine” in 2003 and "Ni d'Ève, ni d'Adam” in 2007.

He ventured into street theatre with the composition of “Transports Exceptionnels” in 2005, a duet for a dancer and a mechanical digger, then, in the same year, he explored the relationship between dance and theatre in "À quoi tu penses?”, using monologues by the writer Marie Nimier.

Further information

Digital resource by the Médiathèque du Centre national de la danse
http://mediatheque.cnd.fr/spip.php?page=mediatheque-numerique-ressource&id=PHO00003944

Company website
Beau Geste

Last update : November 2010

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.).