A choreographic extract remodelled by the group L’Ar(t)icoche, coordinator Guiomar Campos, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme 2023/2024 (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

Transmission by Alice Boivin, performer and notator, Isabelle Missal, performer 

Presented on 15 June 2024, Le Manège de Reims.

The piece when it was created

May B

Firstly produced 4 november 1981 at the théâtre municipal in Angers as part of l’Automne chorégraphique d’Angers and 8 January 1982 at the Maison des arts in Créteil

Choreography: Maguy Marin

Work for ten performers: Daniel Ambash, Luna Bloomfield, Christiane Glik, Mireille Campioni, Pierre Fabris, Toméo Verges, Karin Vyncke, Mathias Pons, Mychel Lecoq, Maguy Marin 

Music: Air de Gilles de Binche 

Original duration: 1h30 

The group

L’Ar(t)icoche (Porspoder, Bretagne)

L’association Ar(t)icoche est une structure culturelle créée en 2006 par deux habitantes de la commune de Porspoder dans le Finistère. Christine Paillard et Anne Laure Le Niliot y ont impulsé une activité autour de la danse contemporaine en dehors des lieux habituels avec l’ambition de faciliter l’accès à une culture chorégraphique de qualité, inclusive et diverse. Un cours de danse hebdomadaire donné par Guiomar Campos ou des artistes invité·e·s rythme le travail de ce groupe hétérogène, en âges comme en expériences professionnelles. Le spectacle de fin d’année et un stage début juillet confortent la cohésion du groupe. 

The project

Ar(t)icoche s’est attaché au chef-d’œuvre de Maguy Marin, May B. Datant de 1981 la pièce, inspirée de l’univers de Samuel Beckett, marquait un virage dans le parcours de l’artiste en la sortant d’une partielle confidentialité pour la propulser au rang des chorégraphes populaires. Après plus de mille représentations, cette pièce a rencontré des milliers de spectateurs et a été incarnée par de nombreux interprètes. La transmission au groupe s’est opérée par l’intermédiaire de la partition chorégraphique et par le vécu d’interprète de la pièce. Alice Boivin, notatrice d’un extrait de May B n’a jamais été interprète tandis qu’Isabelle Missal, invitée depuis 1991 par la compagnie Maguy Marin en qualité de professeure puis collaboratrice régulière à RamDam, en donnera une transmission plus corporelle et plus intime. La question de la transformation physique constitue également un point important de leur travail en commun. 

Maguy Marin was born in Toulouse in 1951 and studied dance at the conservatory there before joining the Strasbourg Ballet. In 1970 she was accepted at Maurice Béjart’s school Mudra, where she stayed three years before becoming a soloist (for four seasons) with the Ballet of the 20th Century, under the direction of Maurice Béjart. A turning point would come at the end of this period seeing her shed all her previously held conceptions “allowing a multitude of creative choices, liberty and also constraints to emerge. Nothing was ever the same”. She also began questioning the body types idealized within the dance world, a subject that would become central in her work. “With Maurice Béjart the body was magnified. Youth, virtuosity, everything sparkled. And I had a problem with that. I asked myself what happened to all those other bodies, the ones that were infirm, misshapen or uncoordinated, but who managed to keep standing nonetheless.” 

Between 1980 and 1997 Maguy Marin was based at the Maison des arts in Créteil, with her company becoming an official Choreographic Centre in 1985. 

From 1998 until 2011 she directed the National Choreographic Centre in Rillieux-la-Pape. After which time the company once again became independent, setting up in Toulouse in order to continue their creative research. In 2015 the company moved again, this time to Sainte Foy-lès-Lyon, where they set up in an old carpentry factory. Their tenure there would allow them to continue to open up the immaterial space of that which is shared, something that obstinately seeks to make itself manifest while encouraging the unfolding of a new ambitious project: RAMDAM, AN ART CENTRE. It is a place of horizontal sharing, dedicated to hosting artists and audience members alike. It is also a place intent on facilitating an on-going exchange and continuous circulation between those conducting research, amateurs, students, spectators and volunteers; as well as creating bridges between different artistic practices, laboratories, places for public relations, education and reflection. 

- 1978: Grand Prix du Concours chorégraphique international de Bagnolet - 2003: Grand Prix de la danse du Syndicat de la critique for
Les applaudissements ne se mangent pas
- 2003: American Dance Festival Award 

- 2006: Special jury prize Syndicat de la critique for Umwelt
- 2008: Bessie Award for Umwelt presented at the Joyce Theater
- 2008: Grand Prix de la danse du Syndicat de la critique for Turba
- 2011: Prix Danza & Danza for “Best Contemporary Dance Piece » for Salves - 2016: Golden Lion, Venice Biennale 

More information : compagnie-maguy-marin.fr

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