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.  

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