Saint-Georges à Aulnay

Created on 8 and 9 November 1991 at La Coursive in La Rochelle, “Saint-Georges” is a collective work inspired by the research of the art historian Jurgis Baltrusaitis (1903-1988) on Romanesque art, undertaken in the 1930s. His sketches that reproduced the sculpted ornaments of Romanesque buildings enchanted Régine Chopinot who discovered them whilst she was creating “ANA” (1990) and studying the work of the learned Lithuanian on anamorphosis. This work, included in the repertoire of the Centre chorégraphique national de Poitou-Charentes (Poitou-Charentes National Choreography Centre) in La Rochelle, which she has directed since 1986, is flaunted by the choreographer as a return to smaller-scale theatres, after the superproduction tours of “Rossignol”, “K.O.K” and “ANA” which could only be performed in gymnasiums or sports halls due to the scale of their stage-sets.

“In his work “Formations, déformations: la stylistique ornementale dans la sculpture romane”, J. Baltrusaitis attempts to draw parallels between the monumental Romanesque ornament and the original movement” [1]. Régine Chopinot captures these reflections on the life of forms and retains “the rhythm, the fear of emptiness and the metamorphosis of the subject” [2]. On a mosaic depiction of St Georges fighting the dragon, designed by Zinn Atmane and that covers the stage, twelve performers, alone, as a duo, a trio or a group, sketch, as such, the movements behind the forms portrayed in Romanesque sculpture, backed by a naturalistic sound composition created by André Serre (source and animal noises), interspersed with vocal music interpreted by the Mora Vocis Ensemble. Gérard Boucher’s lighting intensifies the coloured costumes made by Jean Paul Gaultier to “dissolve boundaries – between animal and human, between kingdoms and species” [3] fomented by the interstitial spaces at work in the Romanesque sculpture.

This production that lasts a little over an hour comprises four sequences, described by Régine Chopinot in her introduction in the performance creation dossier: “The “one-white-eye” effigy dwells in its framed-environment, feet within, the African navel, whereas the acrobat-man enters as best he can into the square: the body distorts itself to fit the requirements of the environment — Solo The ornament, like a frieze, runs, circulates, intertwines, losing track, never-ending, weaves, to the point of swallowing fragments of man — Together Arms distorted reaching out to the other, creating corporal lines that become abstract as a result of the geometry — Duo The triplets with a surgeon’s cap perpetually moving: hip, head, forearm stuck together. Just imagine the life-cycle triggered by the movement of the elbow of the man on the left in the bent knee of the other on the right of the capital — Trio” [4]

For the first time ever, in “Saint-Georges”, Régine Chopinot marked the beginning of a new direction in her work by calling upon her dancers to improvise greatly. Working hand-in-hand with Michel Alibert, renowned yoga instructor, she introduced yoga in her troupe training programme, a means for her to provide her performers with the keys to “throw [themselves] into the Romanesque bas reliefs, not as “mechanical shapes” but as “energetic forms” to be tried and tested” [5]. Many critiques would see in “Saint-Georges” the end of the theatricality, which they had ended up reproaching R. Chopinot, and would celebrate its destitution.

In 1992, the choreographer made a video adaptation of her production where she interspersed the choreography with sketches by J. Baltrusaitis and views of the ornamental sculpture of the church of Saint Pierre in Aulnay de Saintonge, considered as a jewel of Romanesque style.

[1] O. Saillard (dir.), “Jean Paul Gaultier, Régine Chopinot: le defile”, Paris: Les arts décoratifs, 2007, p.136.
[2] O. Saillard (dir.), op. cit., p.136.

[3] R. Chopinot, quoted in H. Gauville, “Les dessous d’Ana”, Libération, 13 November 1990.

[4] R. Chopinot, “Chopinot danse St Georges”, Creation dossier, Centre chorégraphique national de Poitou-Charentes (Poitou-Charentes National Choreography Centre), La Rochelle, 1991.

[5] M. Alibert, “Yoga et santé énergétique”, Les Cahiers de Présence et d’Esprit, No.5, 2004, p.33

Updating: March 2012