Quotidien sur danse

1982

direction Pierre Petitjean

“Quotidien Sur Danse”, here in its entirety, records the life of the CNDC (Centre national de danse contemporaine), Angers in 1982, under the direction of Viola Farber. The American teacher is taking a large weekly class which brings together the ten members of the company with the twenty four students undergoing training. Following the ideas of Cunningham – and contrary to her predecessor Alwin Nikolais – this class in front of the mirror is conducted by copying an example, and provides tools for exteriorising the body as a general way of controlling the space. We can observe the fleeting nature of the information and musical intonation, which maintains an overall lightness of movement. We can also see the work, choreographic development this time, carried out with the reduced forces of the company. Among the extracts of pieces from the second part, Dandelion is worth a special mention. It was devised in New York for six performers. Viola Farber readapts it, especially for Angers, for thirty-five dancers (the CNDC students and company combined).

Gérard Mayen

Credits

étudiants du CNDC promotion 1981/1982 première année Éric Alfieri, Jean-Christophe Arthur, Sylvie Beauviche, Emmanuelle Bloy, Isabelle Boeufgras, Alain Buffard, Claire Chance, Hélène Desplat, Jean-François Duroure, Françoise Empiot, Sandrine Faugeron, Jean-Pascal Gilly, Blandine Girard, Pascale Grenet, Céline Gruyer, Marie-Pascale Lescot, David Liebart, Pascale Luce, Christine Maurel, Marion Mortureux, Sonia Onckelinx, Angelin Preljocaj, Isabelle Theveneau, Dominique Vernin, Dominique Verpraet

compagnie du CNDC 1981/1982 Anne Koren (assistante-répétitrice), Michael Cichetti, Didier Deschamps, Robert Foltz (répétiteur), Chantal de Launay, Joël Luecht, Nadège Macleay, Mathilde Monnier, Sylvain Richard, Claire Verlet

directrice Viola Farber

pianiste Dominique Lofficial

entretien Geneviève Vincent

musiciens Carole Anderson, Michel Portal, Henri Texier, Yuminara

intervenant Patrick Le Levé

production Petitjean Production


Dandelion

chorégraphie Viola Farber

répétiteur Anne Koren

lumières Claude Noël

interprétation Compagnie du CNDC 1981/1982 et étudiants du CNDC promotion 1981/1982 première année

Born in Germany, Viola Farber emigrated to Texas with her family at the age of seven. Coming across Merce Cunningham by chance, she became one of his dancers most in the limelight, leaving him the day she could no longer bear the classic public-interpreter relationship. At the same time, she followed the classical lessons of Margaret Craske, “of effective harshness”, and of Enrico Cechetti, and, from the outset, stood out from the universe of Martha Graham and “from her proud suffering”. While she acknowledges that what touches her most with a dancer, is effort, she adds that, without grace, that effort would be meaningless. Overturning the conventional idea that expects a good dancer to adapt to all styles, she reminds us that each technique muscles and models the body differently.