The Spectator's Moment or how to discover an artist, a piece of work or a company in just two minutes. It is a collection of programmes produced by the Maison de la Danse in Lyon and presented by Dominique Hervieu. Each episode is devoted to an artist or a company that is programmed at the Maison de la Danse and offers the public keys or artistic benchmarks for better understanding and appreciating the choreographic art.
 



© Maison de la Danse de Lyon

Born in 1906. Soviet dancer, choreographer, and company director.   

Born in the Ukraine to a bourgeois family, in childhood he discovered the diversity of Russian folklore. In 1919, his father sent him to a dance school in Moscow “to keep him busy". Impressed by his gifts, in 1921 his teacher presented him to the Moscow School of Dance, where he was admitted. He joined the Bolshoi in 1924, had a career as solo dancer until 1939, and produced his first choreography, "Footballer" in 1930. In 1936 he was appointed director of the choreographic section of the Theatre of Folk Art, and in 1937 was assigned the creation of the Soviet Folklore Dance Ensemble, for which he was the artistic director and choreographer. In 1943, in Moscow, he founded his school, for classical and character dance classes. During the war, the young troupe gave performances in the factories or to the armies. From 1947, the tours were crowned with triumph, first in the Soviet Union and then around the world under the name of the Moiseyev Ballet, with a hundred dancers accompanied by an orchestra playing traditional folk instruments.

At a time when creativity was stifled by the condemnation of modernism, Moiseyev found in his deep love for folklore an outlet that met the authorities’ nationalistic objectives. He then undertook to collect folklore from all around the Soviet Union, and masterfully adapted the rich and varied material for the stage. He thus created ballets reflecting the rural tradition (“Moldovian Suite", “Ukrainian Suite" and “Asian Suite"), humorously describing town life ("Football", “Vieux quadrille citadin" [Old City Quadrille]), evoking work (“Un jour un navire" [On Day on board a ship]), the war (“The Partisans"), and training his dancers (“Le chemin de la danse" [The Road to Dance]). He also explored a poetic vein (“Tempête de neige" [Snow Storm]), the folklore of other countries, and gave his version of “Polovetsian Dances". A demanding perfectionist, he constructed a team with an exceptional level, perfect ensembles and spectacularly acrobatic, and made them one of the most prestigious artistic showcases of the Soviet Union.

Source: Dictionnaire de la danse, Larousse, éd. 1999, en ligne

Author, filmmaker and video artist Charles Picq (1952-2012) entered working life in the 70s through theatre and photography. A- fter resuming his studies (Maîtrise de Linguistique - Lyon ii, Maîtrise des sciences et Techniques de la Communication - grenoble iii), he then focused on video, first in the field of fine arts at the espace Lyonnais d'art Contemporain (ELAC) and with the group « Frigo », and then in dance.
   On creation of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon in 1980, he was asked to undertake a video documentation project that he has continued ever since. During the ‘80s, a decade marked in France by the explosion of contemporary dance and the development of video, he met numerous artists such as andy Degroat, Dominique Bagouet, Carolyn Carlson, régine Chopinot, susanne Linke, Joëlle Bouvier and regis Obadia, Michel Kelemenis. He worked in the creative field with installations and on-stage video, as well as in television with recorded shows, entertainment and documentaries.

His work with Dominique Bagouet (80-90) was a unique encounter. He documents his creativity, assisting with Le Crawl de Lucien and co-directing with his films Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux and 10 anges. in the 90s he became director of video development for the Maison de la Danse and worked, with the support of guy Darmet and his team, in the growing space of theatre video through several initiatives:
       - He founded a video library of dance films with free public access. This was a first for France. Continuing the video documentation of theatre performances, he organised their management and storage.
       - He promoted the creation of a video-bar and projection room, both dedicated to welcoming school pupils.
       - He started «présentations de saisons» in pictures.
       - He oversaw the DVD publication of Le tour du monde en 80 danses, a pocket video library produced by the Maison de la Danse for the educational sector.

       - He launched the series “scènes d'écran” for television and online. He undertook the video library's digital conversion and created Numeridanse.

His main documentaries are: enchaînement, Planète Bagouet, Montpellier le saut de l'ange, Carolyn Carlson, a woman of many faces, grand ecart, Mama africa, C'est pas facile, Lyon, le pas de deux d'une ville, Le Défilé, Un rêve de cirque.

He has also produced theatre films: Song, Vu d'ici (Carolyn Carlson), Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux, 10 anges, Necesito and So schnell, (Dominique Bagouet), Im bade wannen, Flut and Wandelung (Susanne Linke), Le Cabaret Latin (Karine Saporta), La danse du temps (Régine Chopinot), Nuit Blanche (Abou Lagraa), Le Témoin (Claude Brumachon), Corps est graphique (Käfig), Seule et WMD (Françoise et Dominique Dupuy), La Veillée des abysses (James Thiérrée), Agwa (Mourad Merzouki), Fuenteovejuna (Antonio Gades), Blue Lady revistied (Carolyn Carlson).

Source: Maison de la Danse de Lyon