A choreographic extract remodelled by the Groupe de l’O, coordinator Perrine Bal, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme 2022/2023 (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

Transmission by Christian Bourigault. 

Presented on 3 June 2023, Le Triangle, Cité de la danse, in Rennes.

The piece when it was created

L’Apocalypse joyeuse 

Firstly produced 17 December 1991 at the Théâtre de la Bastille in Paris 

Choreography: Christian Bourigault 

Work for five performers: Line Castellani, Christine Gaspéroni, Yano Iatrides, Xavier Le Roy, Christian Bourigault  

Music: Francine Ferrer 

Original duration: 55 min 

The group 

Created in 2015 in Laroque, this troupe is made up of seven dancers from various different backgrounds, all wishing to pursue their contemporary dance practice through classes and workshops open to all amateur dancers. The troupe regularly invites local choreographers, such as Anne Lopez and Bruno Danjoux, to teach workshops. They also perform at various events, including the wool festival in Alès and Les Romanesques in Saint-Roman-de-Codière. They have two different rehearsal spaces, including the Théâtre de l’Albarède, in Ganges. 

The project 

Keen to experience the close working relationship between dancer and choreographer, the troupe invited creator and performer, Christian Bourigault, to teach them his own work: L’Apocalypse joyeuse (1991). Working closely with the choreographer helped the group draw out the work’s precise meaning and bring its full impact to the stage, with all its chaotic echoes of the past and resonance with the present. Originally for five dancers, it has been adapted for seven, all of whom affirm the vital importance of the art of dance, particularly in times of social and political upheaval. 

Christian Bourigault choreographs vibrant dances that are set in motion, where risk-taking and expectation go hand-in-hand with pleasure and accessibility. His constant preoccupation with transmitting his knowledge to as many people as possible is inherent to his work.

Christian Bourigault created the Compagnie de l’Alambic in October 1990 with a first solo: L’Autoportrait de 1917, which focused on the work of the painter Egon Schiele. His work switches between solo creations that question the relationship between abstraction and theatricality in choreographic writing and group creations related to the world issues that he is obsessed with, which he calls “identity tensions”.

Thus, as a direct response to the war in ex-Yugoslavia and to the first massacres in Vukovar, he created the Apocalypse joyeuse in 1991 (honoured with the Prix Léonard de Vinci by the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the SACD Young Authors Award and the SPEDIDAM Award at the 3rd Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales (International Choreographic Encounters) of Seine-Saint-Denis). He has created around twenty choreographic works, which have been performed on French and international stages.

Alongside his theatre work, the choreographer has been creating different ways for sharing his dance research since 2003: chantier Fiat Lux (2003-2005), research collective on the relationship between light and movement, Vis à Vis… (eight performers-2005), a programme focusing on a one spectator/one performer relationship, Princesse Métamorphée (solo-2008), Sur un air deux… (duo-2010), choreography for public spaces and Les Commandos poétiques du mouvement (2010), performances in urban areas for 5 to 30 performers.

Source : Collectif 12 's website

More information

collectif12.org

Having picked up a passion for the audiovisual at an early age from his two brothers, Nicolas Simon quickly developed a love of cinema and began making short films in his teenage years. He studied at the audiovisual ESRA school in Rennes, where he made two 16mm short films. In 2004, he met Emmanuelle Vo-Din, who introduced him to the world of contemporary dance. 

In 2008 he completed Making Rainbow, a documentary retracing the five months over which the first edition of the performance Rainbow was created. He then co-directed Le Grand Éléphant - L’Aventure des Constructeurs, filmed over two years in the workshop of La Machine as they designed and built the Grand Elephant of Île de Nantes: a giant, animatronic elephant. Alongside regular collaborations with several choreographers, including, Alban Richard, Margot Dorléans, Sylvain Riéjou, Daniel Dobbels as well as the companies Le Pôle and PJPP, Nicolas Simon has made several documentaries, including Les Constructeurs d’Éole and Je me souviens.

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