A choreographic extract remodelled by the Groupe de recherche EMD, artistic coordinator Geneviève Choukroun, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme 2020/2022 (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing). Transmission by Agnès Canova.

Presented on 18 June 2022, Maison de la danse in Lyon.

The piece when it was created 

People

Firstly produced 30 April 2005 at Espace Philippe-Auguste in Vernon

Choreography: Sylvain Groud

Piece for four performers: Aurélie Genoud, Agnès Canova, Cyril Geeroms, Sylvain Groud

Music: Frédéric Borde

Original duration: 20 minutes

The group

Based in Alès (Gard, France) this group was founded in 2015 under the direction of choreographer and teacher, Geneviève Choukroun. It is composed of eight students, from 13 to 17 years of age, from the municipal school for dance and the performing arts, at the Alès conservatory. Its members are bound by a shared desire to hone their skills, explore, improvise and develop end-of-year performances. They perform for musical events and at European Heritage Days, and participate in an exchange programme with musicians from the regional conservatory. These young dancers are expert in contemporary and jazz, and some are also skilled in classical dance. They train and rehearse not only at the Conservatory, but also at the Cratère d’Alès studio and the Verrerie, a national circus arts theatre. This is the first time the group has performed as part of the Amateur Dance and Repertoire programme.      

The project

“We dance against each other.” This is how choreographer, Sylvain Groud, describes People; a piece created for amateur dancers in 2004. It speaks of the individual within the group and the marvellous fusion that can arise when a community comes together to dance. For this piece, the dancers must focus on two key problematics: the first concerning questions of identity, intimacy, relationships with others and the effects of close proximity between beings; and the second regarding the transplantation of this work into different urban contexts. Sylvain Groud’s assistant Agnès Canova is leading the reconstruction of an extract from this piece.  

A graduate of the CNSMD in Paris, Sylvain Groud began his career working with Gigi Caciuleanu and then Angelin Preljocaj. Winner of the Concours International de Paris with his first choreography, he has continued his creative work around two main axes: site-specific pieces and the relationship between music and dance. With his company MAD, he created over 30 pieces between 1994 and 2018.

That same year, he was appointed director of Ballet du Nord, CCN Roubaix Hauts-de-France, and created the participatory show Let's Move! and the duet Dans mes bras. In 2019, he created Métamorphose and Adolescent, his first collaboration with Françoise Pétrovitch.

In 2020, in response to the health crisis, he created the play 4m² at the Grand Bleu in Lille. It was subsequently presented in theatres with the Scène Nationale label and at dance festivals, as well as in non-dedicated venues such as schools, nursing homes and shops.

Since 2020, he has been working regularly with video artist Léonard Barbier-Hourdin to create choreographic films. Rooted in the Hauts-de-France region, most of these projects involve local people: Symbiose, réveil sur le terril (with 80 amateurs), Huis Clos (carte blanche offered by the Louvre-Lens museum), Bouge ton Bassin (for the 10th anniversary of the inclusion of the mining basin in UNESCO's World Heritage list), and more.

In autumn 2021, he will create two choreographic duets: L'autre and Lorsque l'enfant était enfant. His next creation, Des chimères dans la tête, is scheduled for autumn 2023.

Source and more information: https://www.balletdunord.fr/

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