A choreographic extract remodelled by the Groupe amateur du programme Format, coordinator Marion Grange, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme 2023/2024 (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

Transmission by Alexandre Da Silva, performer, Marie Fonte, performer, Joanne Leighton, choreographer

Presented on 15 June 2024, Le Manège de Reims.

The piece when it was created

Songlines

Firstly produced 8 February 2018 at CDCN Atelier de Paris during Faits d’hiver as part of the Paris Réseau Danse

Choreography: Joanne Leighton

Work for eight performers: Lauren Bolze, Marion Carriau, Alexandre Da Silva, Marie Fonte, Yannick Hugron, Flore Khoury, Sabine Rivière, Bi-Jia Yang 

Music: In C, de Terry Riley 

Associated Music Publishers, Inc., represented by Première Music Group 

Original duration: 1h10 min

The group

Amateur dancers from the Format program (Aubenas, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)

Every year since 2016, the amateur dancers from the Format program have created original choreography and staged an end-of-season festival. The group is made up of around twenty adults, with roughly equal numbers of men and women. It meets every week at the Palabre cultural centre in Aubenas. At Format, diversity is a watch word, and the dancers strive to bring their individual approach to their work, while respecting the style of the choreographers. In staging Songlines, the group also chose to focus on the environment, in partnership with local stakeholders.  

The project

The idea for this project arose in 2016, when Format invited Joanne Leighton to tour her piece Les Modulables in different spaces and landscapes across the region of Ardèche. Leighton was captivated by the variety of landscapes in the region, and her meeting with the group inspired them to restage her work Songlines. The piece takes the simple act of walking as a starting point, making it easily accessible to all. While collective, the choreography also provides the freedom to explore individual as well as joint digressions. Walking is both an everyday movement and a fundamental part of the history of danse since the 1960s. For Format, it also provides a way to explore their relationship to nature and with each other as a group. The restaging was overseen by Marie Fonte and Alexandre Da Silva, who have worked and danced with Leighton since 2015.   

Based in Paris Ile-de-France, Joanne  Leighton is a Belgian-Australian choreographer and pedagogue. Her  professional career is linked to an original, dynamic and constantly  evolving vision of dance and her discourse is permeated by an emphasis  on dialogue and exchange, both with the public and with her artistic  collaborators. Central to her work lies the notion of site, territory  and identity, which are for Joanne Leighton interdependent spaces.

Joanne Leighton is the representative choreographer of the  administrative council of the SACD (French Society of Composers and  Dramatic Authors) and the Beaumarchais 2018 – 2020. She is also a member  of the administrative council of La Maison du Geste et de l'Image in  Paris. 

After dancing in the Australian Dance Theater (1986-1991), Joanne  Leighton moved to Europe, living and performing in London for 2 years.  Her company Velvet was formed in Brussels from 1993 - 2010, where she  established her choreographic work, active for over 18 years. She was  choreographer in residence at the Raffinery - Charleroi/Danses  (2003-2005) and Les Halles de Schaerbeek (2005-2007). In 1994 and in  2010 she received the SACD Prize (Society of Composers and Dramatic  Authors) for her choreographic work. Joanne Leighton has been  commissioned to create work for international companies such as the  Dance Theater of Ireland (2001); in Belgium for Charleroi Danses (2005);  in France for the Ballet de Lorraine (2014) and in Switzerland for the  company Marchepied (2015).

Director of the National Choreographic Center of Franche-Comté in  Belfort in France (2010 – 2015), Joanne Leighton formed WLDN in 2015.  WLDN is a project, philosophy and platform for her choreographic  research and creation. Her works have been performed nationally and  internationally in theaters, urban and industrial spaces, art galleries,  town squares, on rooftops and presented on screens and smartphones.  Joanne Leighton's choreographic work has been co-produced and presented  on international stages for over 20 years, with over 30 productions  touring to France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Ireland, Italy,  Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Netherlands, Wales, the United Kingdom,  Australia and Cuba.

Joanne Leighton’s choreographic work includes Corps Exquis (2019) a piece for 3 dancers around an exquisite corpse for 58 choreographers; I am sitting in a room,  a movement study of the sitting position performed by four poetic  clowns on the eponymous text by American composer Alvin Lucier; Exquisite Corpse (2012) an exquisite corpse for 7 dancers ; Made in…Series,  a large scale ‘architecture in movement’ for 99 participants performed  in situ and (re)created in France, Denmark, Germany, Australia,  Switzerland, Cuba; The Modulables, a series of site-specific pieces  between installation and performance with an ambulatory public, which  have been evolving over a period of 10 years. In 2014, Joanne Leighton  and the director Christoph Frick co-sign Melting Pot for 9 young  performers from immigrant backgrounds, a cultural exchange between the  Theater Freiburg, the CCN of Belfort and Junges Theater Basel. Chair Dances,  an evolutive virtual digital gallery comprising over 30 short  choreographic films by diverse choreographers involving chairs, was  initiated by Joanne Leighton in 2010.

In 2015 Joanne Leighton initiated a trilogy of works which will span 5 years with her signature piece 9000 Steps, performed by six dancers on a bed of salt to the music Drumming, Steve Reich. This work was followed in 2018 with Songlines, for eight dancers, created to the fascinating musical composition In C by Terry Riley. This trilogy will conclude with her production People United in 2021.

In September 2011, Joanne Leighton launched her large scale work, The Vigil,  whereby each morning and evening at sunrise and sunset over 365 days, a  participant holds watch over the city for one hour, a work for 730  inhabitants and performed over 365 consecutive days. Around these same  principals this choreography has been mounted for the towns Belfort  (September 2011 – September 2012) ; Laval (15th September 2012 – 15th  September 2013) ; Rennes (30th September 2012 – 29th September 2013)  Haguenau (1st January – 31st December 2015), Freiburg, Germany (20th  June 2015 – 19th June 2016) and Evreux, France for the Le Tangram, Scène  Nationale (22nd September 2017 – 22nd September 2018) ;  Dordrecht, for  the Schouwburg Kunstmin in Holland (1st Mai 2019 – 30th April 2020) ,  and eigth project, The Graz Vigil Austria (1st January 2020 -  31st December 2020) for La Strada, is currently in performance. The  Münich Vigil - Türmer München, is due to start shortly (12th December  12th 2020 - 12th December 2021) ; along with The Hull Vigil (20th March  2021 - 19th March 2022) for the Freedom Festival of Hull in the United  Kingdom.

In parallel to this work, Joanne Leighton initiated a series of  walking pieces as with Walk#1 Belfort – Freiburg, where she walked a  path between two Vigil sites by following waterways over 127 kms in four  days. Since 2014 these ‘walking dances’ are part of her choreographic  practice. In September 2017, Joanne Leighton mounted Walk, a performance  over 25 km linking the four theaters of Paris Réseau Danse, with an  open call for participants to join her. Her work Salt Circle concluded this unique event at Atelier de Paris/CDCN. Her walking projects such as Walking as Remembering (2019) weave into her choreographic practice and stage work.

An internationally recognized pedagogue, Joanne Leighton regularly  gives lectures and workshops. She has taught for companies such as  Jean-Claude Gallotta, Catherine Diverrès, Angelin Preljocaj, Trisha  Brown Company, Batsheva Company, Charleroi / Danses, AMNT in Tokyo, Need  Company, Rosas, Wim Vandekeybus, and dance centers like the Seoul  International Choreographic Center (South Korea); The Menagerie de  Verre, Paris; Centre National Danse in Paris; Atelier de Paris / CDCN;  PARTS; Dansens House in Copenhagen; and the Croatian Institute for  Movement and Dance / Zagreb Dance Center. She has also taught in art  schools such as the fine arts school in Toulouse.

Interested in finding new ways of being, doing, thinking, working,  making and presenting, Joanne Leighton seeks to embrace a radically  different approach to access, ownership, and authorship in contemporary  dance performance.

La Production Rémoise – Romu DUCROS

Romuald Ducros’ love of photography is a family affair. He was first introduced to photography at a very early age by is father, who was a member of the Bièvre “Club Photo” (founded by André Face). Later it would become both his passion and his profession.  

In 2011, Romuald created Production Rémoise, which specialises in the production of film and photography. His work stands out for its artistic sensibility and creative approach, with each production being a unique work of art.   

His productions range from video capture for performances of dance, theatre, opera and contemporary music, to films touching on sensitive social issues, or celebrating the valuable work of local artisans.  

As an artist-creator, Romuald joined the Leica Akadémie France, while also working on artistic events and exhibitions.

https://www.laproductionremoise.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