Grenade, les 20 ans

After having patiently, for years, mixed with contemporary dance the cultures and styles of neighbourhoods and thus created a “Grenade energy”, I felt a real need for openness. I then came up with the idea of proposing all the dancers of the Grenade company, adults and children alike, to choreographers accepting to rework or develop a piece from their repertoire. Names were obvious: Jean-Claude Gallotta, Angelin Preljocaj, Jean-Christophe Maillot, Michel Kelemenis, Philippe Decouflé, Abou Lagraa. And they all said “yes” to the project with the greatest simplicity. The project thus took on proportions that I hadn’t imagined at the start. The more we progressed in this artistic adventure, the more I realised how difficult the proposal really was. These choreographers all possess a highly personal and original style, meaning that the dancers of the Grenade company must be able to interpret a very broad panel of dance forms. 

In the works, they have to find a quality and a presence corresponding to the writing of each choreographer: the youngest must reproduce the fast, frenzied style of Jean-Claude Gallotta in Mammame as well as the madness of his interpreters; Philippe Découflé’s funny duet danced by Christophe Salengro and Cathy Savy has been entrusted to young interpreters;  Michel Kelemenis’s deep and moving Faune is interpreted by a teenager; Angelin Preljocaj’s jerky and repetitive work, Marché Noir, must maintain its right balance with preteen dancers aged 11 to 14; Jean-Christophe Maillot’s airy score Vers Un Pays Sage, combining technique, lightness and rapidity, will encourage the older dancers to excel themselves in a neo-classical approach to dance; the professional company will find cultural mixing and fluidity with Abou Lagraa’s jubilant Allegoria Stanza.