In the Samoan language, Tusitala designates the one who tells stories. This beautiful definition is used by choreographer Marie-Geneviève Massé in a show where she attempts to tell her vision of the baroque. This definition brings together that of dance masters like Louis-Guilaume Pécour and Raoul Feuillet, with that of composers Lully, Gluck or Vivaldi, which she recreates to reinvent her own music of sentiments, after her piece called Les Folies françaises de Couperin. While the actress playing Tusitala will perform the symbolics of colors, five dancers and two musicians will prolong her narrative through gestures and notes. Danced to pre-recorded as well as live music, the baroque and contemporary steps respond by expressing love, cunning or hope. Tusitala is a broad visual and choreographic representation which isn’t limited to the color codes of the past; it associates a vibrant red to the violence of revolutions and mourning black to the modern elegance of a businessman, thus fully illustrating the ambition of its author to connect the forms of the repertory to our present without denaturing them.

Source: programme of the CND

Following a classical training with Daniel Frank and Yves Cassati, she studied contemporary dance with Aron Osbon, Sarah Sugwihara, Françoise Dupuy and Bernard Delattre.

In 1980 she fell in love with the dance she discovered through Françoise Lancelot – the baroque. She immediately joined the company “Ris et Danceries” and remained one of its principal artists until 1988, participating notably in the creation of  Atys ,  the Bal à la Cour de Louis XIV ,  La Suitte d’un Goût Etranger   with Dominique Bagouet and François Raffinot. From 1989 to 1992 she worked with François Raffinot as dancer and assistant in his company Barocco.

At the same time she taught baroque dance at the CNSM in Paris, the Conservatoire Royal in La Haye, the Sablé Academy, the Rio Academy and in the Cefedem. From 1995 to 1997 she directed the troop of dancers in the Théâtre Baroque de France.

Marie- Geneviève began choreographing in 1985 at the request of several directors and conductors, founding the company L’Eventail with Bernard Delattre. With this company, based in Sablé since 2001, granted national convention status in 2004, she has created more than thirty-five choreographies and collaborated with renowned artists.

In 2000, proposed by Didier Deschamps and Vincent Berthier de Lioncourt, she was named CHEVALIER DES ARTS ET DES LETTRES.

Following the presentation of  "Renaud et Armide | Médée et Jason"   at the Opéra Royal at Versailles and the Opéra Comique in December 2012, Marie-Geneviève created, amongst other things,  "La Sérénade Royale"  which was staged throughout the summer of 2014 in the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles.

For the past four years she has been continuing the project “De la plume à l’image" in partnership with the National Dance Centre. At the moment, she is working on three new creations:  « Les Amants Magnifiques » , « Fables à tiroir » et « Othello ou le ballet des apparences ».

She is also preparing the thirtieth anniversary of l’Éventail to be celebrated on December 12th 2015 with the Ballet des Fables at l’Entracte in Sablé-sur-Sarthe.

Source : The Company Eventail 's website

More information

compagnie-eventail.com

Since 2001, the National Center for Dance (CND) has been making recordings of its shows and educational programming and has created resources from these filmed performances (interviews, danced conferences, meetings with artists, demonstrations, major lessons, symposia specialized, thematic arrangements, etc.).