La danse, une histoire à ma façon [D'Isadora Duncan à Valeska Gert]

Recorded at the CND 14 February 2005

[Dance, a story following my own way] 

“Writing this solo was a seemingly impossible task for me: how can one body alone (mine in this case) evoke the history of dance, tackle different styles, periods and refer to both male and female characters?

I chose to cite artists whose work has influenced my own artistic progress, linking them chronologically. I set myself the challenge of going from prehistory up to the present day and, as I am not a historian, favoured my own point of view as a choreographer.

I concentrated particularly on twentieth century choreographers, as their work seems less well understood by the general public than those of the classical period. I wanted to weave together all these chorographic adventures, to show the dynamic which animates an artist when he constructs a work in continuity with or in reaction to those who have gone before. Each sequence is intended as a light homage, as in being too deferential, I risk fossilising, and so misrepresenting, an artist’s work. Seen in a new light, it can be restored to the context of a live show.

This solo has become a faithful companion of which I have grown fond, and so I imagine myself being able to carry on dancing it until I am 80.”

Dominique Boivin

Updating: November 2010