Period piece

Keep dancing – Danser Encore
The Lyon Opera Ballet will perform soli all over the CN D, in a choreographic circuit resulting from the meeting between one different dancer and one different choreographer for each solo. “Danser Encore” wishes to reflect the diversity of contemporary creation and immerse us into a living creative process for contemporary dance. Initiated in 2020 by Lyon Opera Ballet director Julie Guibert, the “Danser Encore” cycle relies on a desire to showcase the individuality of the company’s dancers and to support choreographic creation in the difficult context of a global pandemic by banking on the fertile dialogue between choreographers and performers. From the creation of tailored soli, “Danser Encore” exposes the team work of two people and highlights how diverse contemporary creation is. After conceiving 13 original soli, the Lyon Opera Ballet will continue the project by creating more pieces that will use all the resources of the body, image and movement. Occupying the entire space of the Centre national de la danse over the course of two days, over 10 soli will be performed in the studios and the Atrium, revealing the fragility, lightness, density and particular grain of each performer and the magnitude of their desire to dance.

Period piece

Our current situation evokes contradictory feelings: we long to return to what we used to think of as “normal”, but we also hope for a better future. Period Piece tries to achieve both: revelling in “traditional” dance accompanied by music, and at the same time, trying to push beyond old limits. In 1973, Henryk Górecki composed Three Dances for Orchestra, which serves as the musical basis for this work. The music is structured by strong contrasts and driven by diverse influences, including Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, minimalism and the rhythm of folk music, all of which combined open the way for an extravagant dance, alternating pluses of energy with slow control. From a choreographic standpoint, the orchestral music calls for a large troupe of dancers, but Kristina alone is given the impossible task of rising above the great breadth of the musical expanse. This solo therefore also serves as a metaphor for the struggle we face as human beings, trying to understand and control forces far beyond ourselves. The old and the new, gravity and absurdity, restraint and exuberance all come together in this creation that celebrates the potential of human bodies and minds.  

Source: programme of the CND