Choreography by Andy De Groat  
A choreographic extract remodelled by the company LalYre (Lyon), as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2013) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

The group

The company LalYre was set up three years ago as a result of the wish to develop creative work and to multiply stage experiences both in theatres and in unusual places. To date, the company has two pieces in its repertoire: Place de la mairie 18 h by Andréane Jenatton and Boîtes à couleurs by Margot Rémond. The company also calls on other choreographers to nurture its dance and thus try out other approaches to movement. Continually on the outlook for new inspirations and experiences, the company pursues its creative work. Today it has ten members and is self-directed. 

The project

“Fan Dance is a mixture of simple but unusual steps, to which are added precise arm movements and a constant random space. The conception of this Chinese puzzle is the apparently contradictory combination of unison and freedom of movements. It is an ode to physical, mental and sensory coordination, to group discipline and to individual freedom.” (A. De Groat)

This short five-minute piece has been interpreted in all kinds of conditions and distributions: from four to more than forty dancers. It is a piece that requires great concentration. The total attentiveness the dancers pay each other generates a very strong sensation of belonging to the group. This work presents characteristics that challenge the group in its own search around contemporary dance. 

The choreographer 

Born in 1947 in Paterson (New Jersey) and after studying the Fine Arts, Andy De Groat followed the work of Merce Cunningham, Yvonne Rainer, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. In the early 1970s, he became interested in a form of minimalism, known as spinning, a form of repetitive whirling. Robert Wilson’s interpreter, he collaborated with the stage director for ten years. In 1982, he settled in Paris and created the company Red Notes, within which he revisited the ballets of the great 19th century repertoire (Swan Lake, Giselle, La Bayadère, The Nutcracker), combining academic vocabulary and contemporary syntax.  

(1947-2019)

Andy De Groat was born in 1947 in the United States into a family of Dutch, Italian, French, German and English origins. Whilst studying at the New York School of Fine Art in 1967, he met the director Robert Wilson. He joined his troupe as a dancer, then as a choreographer for all the productions from Deafman Glance in 1971, A Letter for Queen Victoria in 1974 to Einstein on the Beach in 1976, created for the Avignon Festival.
In 1981, he received a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation in New York for his choreographic research.
He created new works in succession for red notes, including several for Jean Guizerix, Wilfride Piollet, Jean-Christophe Paré, the Choreographic Research Group of the Opera of Paris (GRCOP), the Scala in Milan, Ris et Danceries, the Ballet du Nord (Roubaix) and Wah Loo Tin Tin Co, a Montauban-based company of young performers.

Today, his work totals over sixty creations that have been presented in around twenty countries and periodically goes back to questioning the repertoire and the heritage of dance.

His company has worked regularly on lyrical productions since 1988, in particular on "The Magic Flute" (Mozart), with Robert Wilson at the Opera Bastille, Paris, "The Rake's Progress" (Stravinsky), with Alfredo Arias for the Aix-en-Provence Festival of Lyric Art and at the Operas of Lyon, Gênes and Montpellier, "Aida" (Verdi) and Klaus Michael Grüber at the Amsterdam Opera.

Source : website of the Centre national de la danse (CND, Pantin)

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