Dance and floors

These videos will enable you to meet various artists and directors of cultural institutions who will try to put into words this relationship to the ground, so concrete yet so abstract. The relationship with the ground is a dual one: being firmly anchored to the ground is the best way to propel yourself up into the air.

Tiago Guedes

Director of the Maison de la danse & co-director of the Lyon Biennial

With experience as a dancer, choreographer and then structure director, Tiago Guedes’ relationship with the ground has evolved over the course of his career. Having experimented with it himself, his relationship with the ground now has a dual meaning for him: it is, of course, about dance stages, but it is also about being anchored to the ground and to the territory.

For me, the relationship with the ground is also the relationship with being anchored to the ground, anchored in a territory – Tiago Guedes

Today, in his role as director of the Maison de la danse, it is important for him to offer a floor that is suitable for all the different types of dance to meet the needs of the artists, and to work around the technical and material characteristics of each floor. In this way, the floor becomes an integral part of a piece, becoming, for example, an element of scenography.

Thierry Malandain

Choreographer and Director of the Malandain Ballet – National Choreographic Centre of Biarritz

In Thierry Malandain’s dance, the floor is a support, a partner to lean on in order to rise. But above and beyond this capacity to elevate oneself, the floor is above all important and has an impact on the dancer’s health.

The link between floor and health is necessarily evoked in the work of Malandain Ballet Biarritz, particularly in the daily effort required of the dancers. According to dancer Claire Lonchampt, the longevity of a dancer’s career will depend on the quality of the floor, which prevents micro-injuries and protects the joints. It is because of this need to meet dancers’ expectations that dance floors and mats have evolved in recent years.

We’re on the floor and our wildest desire is to rise (…) And so the floor is the starting point for everything that’s possible – Thierry Malandain

Martin Harriague

Resident choreographer at Malandain Ballet Biarritz

The relationship between the floor and the artist is also one of adaptation. For Martin Harriague, the dancer has to learn to adapt his body to the floor, to go beyond the stage where the floor is seen only as a rigid support. The imagination is anchored there to see something else and go beyond the material aspect.

It’s thanks to the floor that we can push ourselves to use all the forces of gravity that are imposed on us and play with them. – Martin Harriague

A good floor will undeniably facilitate this work of adaptation and allow the dancers to move around the stage. As dancers are more at ease on the floor, they can draw on this strength to propel themselves and perform better during a performance.

Rocío Molina

Dancer and choreographer

When the question of the relationship between dance and the floor is raised, it seems necessary to approach it through the prism of flamenco. Instrumentalised in this practice, the floor becomes the main partner and the common thread running through a performance.
For bailaora Rocío Molina, the relationship with the floor evolves according to the dancer’s physical state: preferences emerge over time, depending on the experience acquired and the effect sought. The material of the floor has an impact on the energy injected by the dancer and on the technique adopted.

Finally, Rocío Molina evokes an energy that circulates between the dancer and the floor: the floor receives the energy and reflects it back. The bailaora’s strike is full of nuance.

When everything is perfect (…), the floor perceives it and transmits this energy. And that has an effect on our art. – Rocío Molina

CNSMD – Lyon

Young Ballet Class of 2022-2023

Finally, for dancers at the start of their career, the relationship with the floor is essential to establish a bond of trust. Throughout their studies, the students of the young ballet at the Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon learn to recognise the importance of the floor, and then to see it as a partner that allows them to take risks once they have tamed it.

It is the floor that gives the group its dynamic, allowing them to slide, turn and propel themselves. Once they have found a relationship of trust in their practice, the dancers can let themselves go and concentrate fully on their performance.

Technically, (…) you have to be able to use the floor as a partner to go all the way and take controlled risks in the dance. – Kylie Walters

The floor is an integral part of dance and of the dancers’ experience. It is an anchor point from which they propel themselves and draw inspiration. It is a partner to be mastered, guaranteeing the dancer’s health and the continuity of his or her career. An integral part of the set design, it is used in a multitude of ways and accompanies the dancers in their performance. The relationship with the floor is essential in dance. It has evolved over the years, and its importance is all the more recognised today in the issue of dancers’ health.

Credits

Harlequin Floors x Danses avec la Plume x Maison de la danse