Petites pièces de Berlin (Les) (excerpts)

Choreography: Dominique Bagouet and the dancers

To begin with, here is a neutral and nameless place which could be a waiting room. Dance occupies time and place first temporarily. It does not narrate anything, but it sets out to make individuals and their meetings come into existence. If the main play of the show, the last one, was a canvas, it would first be approached through first sketches and enlarged details. In this way, some bodies and faces, as though observed from close up, can highlight the humanity, the "everydayness" and the possible connections between the performers. The first plays are more devoted to a more rational, intimate dance, designed with each dancer's individuality confronted with few partners. The last play extends the image but the ‘wide-angle shot' may just as well move things closer as separate them, and the dance moves away from details in order to become rough or crude, yet with tender and subtle angles also.

Sources: Dominique Bagouet – May 1988

It deals with five, non-narrative plays that could be interchangeable but for this vast setting which provides the basic idea:  a big waiting room with wall seats. There are clean stylistic breaks between each play with a common colour provided by the scenery, some costumes and hybrid accessories, some of them very cold, others much warmer. Characters are not archetypes; they are much more mysterious, rather surprising …

The place has determined the show. It is a narrow and small auditorium in Berlin where Peter Stein works at the moment. It is one of the rare stage places which have escaped the destruction of war. It is very typical of its time, with impressive inlaid walls.

The place is abstract but the dance becomes determined through the dancers' preliminary improvisation work.

Sources: “Programme of the Bagouet Company” – 1988

Credits

Choreography: Dominique Bagouet and the dancers

Duration: 21'

Dancers: Dominique Bagouet, Christian Bourigault, Claire Chancé, Sarah Charrier, Bernard Glandier, Catherine Legrand, Orazio Massaro, Dominique Noel, Sonia Onckelinx, Fabrice Ramalingom.

Music: Gilles Grand

Assistant: Jean-Pierre Alvarez

Scenery: William Wilson

Stage lighting: Laurent Matignon

Costumes: Dominique Fabrègue and William Wilson

Images: Charles Picq

Editing: Myriam Copier

Production: Les Carnets Bagouet

Date of creation: June 4th 1988, Théâtre Hebbel at Berlin

Performance recorded in Septembre 17th 1988, Théâtre National Populaire de Villeurbanne

Last update: December 2012

Angoulême, July 9 1951 - Montpellier, December 9 1992

From 1965, Dominique Bagouet received a classical instruction from Rosella Hightower in Cannes, and was firstly engaged in the Ballet du Grand Théâtre of Geneva at Alfonso Cata's in 1969. He danced the following year with the Félix Blaska's company and joined Béjart's 20th Century Ballet in Brussels. The experience lasted two years and continued with the Chandra group (where Maguy Marin also worked).

Back to Paris in 1974, Dominique Bagouet took tuitions with Carolyn Carlson and Peter Goss. He also danced in the Joseph Russillo's, Anne Béranger's and Peter Goss' companies. Then he left for the United States where he discovered with Jennifer Muller, Lar Lubovitch and others, the techniques of the American schools.

Back to France in 1976, he presented his first choreography “Chansons de nuit” at the Concours de Bagnolet and won the first prize with a mention for research. He then founded his first company. He created play after play, at a fast pace he deplored, in order to make his company survive. Until 1979, he created 14 plays, sometimes hastily and unsatisfactorily.

With “Sous la blafarde”, the young choreographer began to stand out and Montpellier became his haven: the town welcomed the company and gave it the resources to exist as Bagouet was asked to set up and run the Centre Chorégraphique Régional de Montpellier. Besides, he was to create in this town the Festival International Montpellier Danse that he would run until 1982.

Dominique Bagouet created then some of the most outstanding plays in French contemporary choreography, from “Insaisies” (1982) to “Necesito, pièce pour grenade” (1991), the last commission written to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Spanish town.

With plays such as “Déserts d'amour” (1984), “Le Crawl de Lucien” (1985) and “Assaï” (1986), Dominique Bagouet clearly established his own personality and style. All these plays registered his very particular style, sometimes referred to as ‘neobaroque', but above all very subtle and inventive. Bagouet's choreographic approach developed the dance movement with numerous short gestures (movements with hands and feet, special incline of the chest…) with terrific precision and no mannerisms.

Moreover, and this is another characteristic of Bagouet, the choreographer always managed to work with talented artists, such as Christian Boltanski, Pascal Dusapin for “Le Saut de l'ange” (1987), Tristan Murail for “Déserts d'amour” or the actress Nelly Borgeaud for the superb “Meublé sommairement” (1989) choreographically adapted from a novel by Emmanuel Bove.

He also directed two films with Charles Picq: “Tant mieux, tant mieux!” (1983) and “Dix anges, portraits”(1988), from “Le Saut de l'ange".

If a Bagouet style existed, it would also lie in this curiosity which influenced a whole generation.

His company's dancers founded in 1993 Les Carnets Bagouet, an association dedicated to preserving and passing on the choreographer's artistic heritage. They offer the repertoire to other companies and schools.

Source: Extract of “99 biographies pour comprendre la jeune danse française” in les saisons de la danse, summer 97, special issue.

More information: www.lescarnetsbagouet.org

Author, filmmaker and video artist Charles Picq (1952-2012) entered working life in the 70s through theatre and photography. A- fter resuming his studies (Maîtrise de Linguistique - Lyon ii, Maîtrise des sciences et Techniques de la Communication - grenoble iii), he then focused on video, first in the field of fine arts at the espace Lyonnais d'art Contemporain (ELAC) and with the group « Frigo », and then in dance.
   On creation of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon in 1980, he was asked to undertake a video documentation project that he has continued ever since. During the ‘80s, a decade marked in France by the explosion of contemporary dance and the development of video, he met numerous artists such as andy Degroat, Dominique Bagouet, Carolyn Carlson, régine Chopinot, susanne Linke, Joëlle Bouvier and regis Obadia, Michel Kelemenis. He worked in the creative field with installations and on-stage video, as well as in television with recorded shows, entertainment and documentaries.

His work with Dominique Bagouet (80-90) was a unique encounter. He documents his creativity, assisting with Le Crawl de Lucien and co-directing with his films Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux and 10 anges. in the 90s he became director of video development for the Maison de la Danse and worked, with the support of guy Darmet and his team, in the growing space of theatre video through several initiatives:
       - He founded a video library of dance films with free public access. This was a first for France. Continuing the video documentation of theatre performances, he organised their management and storage.
       - He promoted the creation of a video-bar and projection room, both dedicated to welcoming school pupils.
       - He started «présentations de saisons» in pictures.
       - He oversaw the DVD publication of Le tour du monde en 80 danses, a pocket video library produced by the Maison de la Danse for the educational sector.

       - He launched the series “scènes d'écran” for television and online. He undertook the video library's digital conversion and created Numeridanse.

His main documentaries are: enchaînement, Planète Bagouet, Montpellier le saut de l'ange, Carolyn Carlson, a woman of many faces, grand ecart, Mama africa, C'est pas facile, Lyon, le pas de deux d'une ville, Le Défilé, Un rêve de cirque.

He has also produced theatre films: Song, Vu d'ici (Carolyn Carlson), Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux, 10 anges, Necesito and So schnell, (Dominique Bagouet), Im bade wannen, Flut and Wandelung (Susanne Linke), Le Cabaret Latin (Karine Saporta), La danse du temps (Régine Chopinot), Nuit Blanche (Abou Lagraa), Le Témoin (Claude Brumachon), Corps est graphique (Käfig), Seule et WMD (Françoise et Dominique Dupuy), La Veillée des abysses (James Thiérrée), Agwa (Mourad Merzouki), Fuenteovejuna (Antonio Gades), Blue Lady revistied (Carolyn Carlson).

Source: Maison de la Danse de Lyon

Compagnie Bagouet

Dominique Bagouet created The Company Dominique Bagouet in 1977, with some dancers (also his friends). He obtained the first prize of the choreographic Competition of Bagnolet thanks to his first choreography “Chansons de nuit”. As the company did not have a real workplace in Paris, the first seasons were difficult, nevertheless the company gets some commands of short pieces. The Company settled down in Montpellier in 1979, after the invitation of Georges Frêche, mayor of the city at the time. In 1980, the company became the regional Dance Centre.

In1984, Dominique Bagouet created “Déserts d'amour”, the piece which made the company internationally known. The work of creation constantly developed and numerous works were presented every year at the Festival International Montpellier Danse.

Dominique Bagouet often left his team of the Centre chorégraphique (which had become a national centre in 1984) to the hands of guest choreographers such as Susan Buirge, Trisha Brown, but also to his own dancers, who made their debuts as choreographers: Michel Kelemenis, Bernard Glandier, Olivia Grandville, Hélène Cathala and Fabrice Ramalingom.

In 1990, after ten years of presence in Montpellier, during which the company met with success, Dominique Bagouet asked for a better working tool and considered the development of the Convent of Ursulines to develop several axes: creation, repertoire, pedagogy and residences of invited artists. Unfortunately, the disease took him and his project was only completed after his death in 1992.

Sources : www.lescarnetsbagouet.org

Last update : December 2013