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En allant de l’ouest à l’est / At a Cloud Gathering [transmission 2024]
A choreographic extract remodelled by the group Atelier contemporain Adultes, coordinator Juliette Vezat, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme 2023/2024 (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).
Transmission Sylvie Berthomé, dance teacher, Alain Durandière, percussion teacher , Nicole Piazzon, contemporary dance teacher
Presented on 15 June 2024, Le Manège de Reims.
The piece when it was created
En allant de l’ouest à l’est
Firstly produced 9 April 1976 at the Maison de la culture de La Rochelle
Choreography: Susan Buirge
Work for one performer: Susan Buirge
Music: Music in Similar Motion de Philip Glass (with kind permission of the composer)
Original duration: 18 minutes
At a Cloud Gathering
Firstly produced 9 March 2006 at the Toboggan de Décines
Choreography: Susan Buirge
Work for 6 perfomers: Michel Barthôme, Sylvie Berthomé, Thierry Laffont, Nicole Piazzon, Young-Ho Nam, Régis Rasmus and the percussionist Jean-Paul Bernard
Original music Jonathan Harvey, ordered by the Fondation Royaumont
Realisation and arrangement of the digital music Gilbert Nouno
Original duration: approximatively 32 minutes
The group
Atelier contemporain Adultes (La Roche-sur-Yon, Pays de la Loire)
The Contemporary Adults workshop, run by Juliette Vezat, was created in 2000 by choreographer Dominique Petit and Ludovic Potié. Twelve 3-hour workshops are held throughout the year, giving participants the time for warmups and to explore dance from a range of angles, in dialogue with other forms of art. Participants also regularly attend performances at the Roche-sur-Yon public theatre as a source of inspiration. The group is made up of around fifteen people of various ages, with a rich variety of different physical expressions and experiences. They will be accompanied by a percussionist.
The project
The group has chosen to work on extracts from two pieces by Susan Buirge. The first, En allant de l’ouest à l’est, created and performed by the choreographer in 1976, highlights her move away from the influence of Alwin Nikolais and towards increased abstraction. The second, At a Cloud Gathering, choreographed in 2006 for six dancers and a percussionist, to original music by Jonathan Harvey, draws inspiration from Tibetan ceremonies and culture. While the two works were created 30 years apart, they both stand out in the career of this exceptional artist and both must be accompanied by contemporary musicians. Sylvie Berthomé and Nicole Piazzon, dancers from Susan Buirge’s company, who have retained a close connection to her, passed on these works with respect for and understanding of her oeuvre and anaesthetic. This will also help to preserve her work from being lost to time, as sometimes happens to significant artists.
