Tauride

Catherine Diverrès began work on her piece Tauride in the autumn of 1991, as the war in Yugoslavia was flaring up, leaving Europe dumbfounded faced with the resurgence of ethnically-based atrocities on its territory.

First produced 1992/
New French Dance had many different ways of putting into practice the way it resonated with its time. While certain choreographers cultivated the trends in attitudes, lifestyle and expression which made up the spirit of the age, others showed a much more political preoccupation. Catherine Diverrès began work on her piece Tauride in the autumn of 1991, as the war in Yugoslavia was flaring up, leaving Europe dumbfounded faced with the resurgence of ethnically-based atrocities on its territory. Dumbfounded and too passive in the eyes of the choreographer, who looked to Aeschylus to set out a tragic view of humanity, where dance meets literary text and philosophy. Each of the eleven performers is cast as a tragic hero, and a cinematographic-style montage telescopes the gaping voids and manifestations that animate the diverse theatre of spaces and mental images that ensue. Devised during a residence at CNDC Angers, this work is recognised as a defining moment in contemporary choreography.

Source: Gérard Mayen