"The Hero’s call is, on the spiritual level, the driving force behind creative development. The heroic action stimulates emotion and creation. It is also the individual’s self-sacrifice in the face of events”.  

Angelin Preljocaj 

Remark by the videographer (2019):  

"Based on the images drawn from socialist realism, Angelin Preljocaj has created a choreographic language expressing the different facets of the hero. The myth of the hero arouses in us feelings that, while frequently ambiguous and contradictory, are always extreme. He is at the same time a public figure, universally recognised, and profoundly isolated, alone responsible for his acts. He arouses the sublime and the ridiculous, identification and rejection. He is the person who creates the event, acting for and out of exemplarity. 

By combining the monumental style of the decor with the geometric expression of the choreography, the piece’s universe assumes its true poetic dimension. 

While I was a cinema lover in my teenage years, dance came into my life when I accompanied my mother to shows, at the Centre Pompidou and the CEC of my city, Yerres, which showed at that time the very best of the Nouvelle Danse Française I remember that I discovered Angelin Preljocaj’s show while I was “hanging out” at the Centre Pompidou. I used to spend my days there, between the library and the exhibitions, and I must have seen the announcement of the performance “A nos héros”. As I had the money, I bought a ticket and it was a revelation. Everything impressed me: the choreographic quality, the contemporary music.  It was thanks to a tour in Yerres that I made this recording, without permission. 

Show recording. Film location: CEC, Yerres (Essonne). 

Angelin Preljocaj was born in the Paris region, in France, and began studying classical ballet before turning to contemporary dance, which he studied with Karin Waehner.
In 1980, he went to New York to work with Zena Rommett and Merce Cunningham, after which he resumed his studies in France, there his teachers included the American choreographer Viola Farber and the French one Quentin Rouillier. He then joined Dominique Bagouet before founding his own company in December 1984.

His productions are now part of the repertoire of many companies, many of which also commission original production from him, notably La Scala of Milan, the New York City Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet. He has made short films ("Le postier", "Idées noires" in 1991) and several full-length films, notably "Un trait d’union" and "Annonciation" (1992 and 2003). In 2009, he directed "Snow White", featuring his own piece, and in 2011 he signed, for Air France, the commercial "L’Envol", based on the choreography of "Le Parc".
Since then he has collaborated on several films of his own choreographic work: « Les Raboteurs » with Cyril Collard (based on the painting by Gustave Caillebotte) in 1988, « Pavillon Noir » with Pierre Coulibeuf in 2006 and « Eldorado/ Preljocaj » with Olivier Assayas in 2007.

Since October 2006, the Ballet Preljocaj and its 24 permanent dancers have resided at the Pavillon Noir in Aix-en-Provence, a building entirely dedicated to dance, with Angelin Preljocaj as its artistic director. Made with Valérie Müller, the first full-length feature film by Angelin Preljocaj, « Polina », danser sa vie, adapted from the graphic novel by Bastien Vivès, came out in cinemas on November 2016.

Source: Ballet Preljocaj 's website

More information

preljocaj.org

Arnold Pasquier was born in Paris in 1968. After studying visual arts and cinema, he made tests in Super 8 and video, in which he developed a world of filmed newspapers and fictions. At the age of twenty, he approaches contemporary dance and collaborates with choreographers as documentarist and dancer. This experience marks the realization of a work where dance holds an important place.
From 1997 to 1999, he was received as a resident artist at the Fresnoy (Tourcoing, France) where he designed the installation "C'est ici que j'avais des baisers" (1997-1999) and produced about twenty short films, four radio design workshops For France Culture and dance performances capturing. In 1999, he presented the show "C'est merveilleux" in the Grande Nef du Fresnoy. He is the author of numerous films (fiction, documentary, video art), staged shows, scenographies, radio broadcasts. His work is articulated at the crossroads of these different disciplines. Winner of a residence Villa Médicis Hors les Murs (outside the wall) in Sao Paulo in 2004, he dances for Julie Desprairies in "La danse en accès accès", "Vue sur la mer" and "Là commence le ciel". He co-signs with her the video-dance installation "Les 3 contents", the result of the residence of the choreographer at the Manufacture de Sèvres (France). 

Source: Website of the Compagnie des prairies  
More information https://arnoldpasquier.com