February 2019
First time in Singapore
First time I restage a piece for students
First time that I have to take care of the classes, rehearsals, lights and costumes
First time I meet the students, the director, the stage manager, the light , the assistant an the main teacher
I am not the first on in the studio, some of the students are warming up already
The pace is intense. It is about, for me, transmitting to them some of my training, the Liz’s world especially and this rich adventure that was Bastard Amber.
And again, I feel full of trepidation, excitement and curiosity, but the enjoyment of stepping back into this piece and training these young dancers with me, takes over.
I find again, with a certain pleasure, each dancer of the original cast. I enter their world deeply. I explore their way of moving.
I remember us. I tell them.
I pass the torch
We chose, with Liz, to work on three moments that I particularly like:
. the four women
. the suffi section
. the displacement duet of Henry and Sarah
September 2014
She appealed to me from our first meeting a few months earlier, at the audition.
I looked forward to getting into her work. I was not disappointed
I felt this creative experience was going to be different from what I had experienced so far. I was right
She takes me into unpredictable spaces, where the outlines seem both nebulous (floating) and limpid.
I trust her but I feel quite often confused. Maybe it’s time to accept not knowing
It is uncomfortable and interesting.
I approach the creative process differently with Liz. It is a particular moment, full of impalpable consistency.
Be there. Be honest. Be whole.
We are all so different !
I observe her. I observe them.
They inspire me, question me, feed me, impress me.
It is disturbing and formative.
February 2019
I observe them. I try to understand their bodies, to guess who they are and what roles correspond to each of them.
It’s interesting to see how the evidence takes shape. Sometimes, all it takes is a micro-movement, or simply an unconscious expression, a way of listening…
And I know now. She will be Hélène, she will be Henry, she will Kath, she will be Liz, she will be Marc
.
.
.
We were seven, they are eleven. The puzzle begins (see the black notebook Liz bought me when we reworked the piece)
It is a very different experience from creation as I used to live it from the inside.
This is another gateway.
The sensations and particular gestures come back to me. I am constantly leaping back in time. My memory ignites.
And I keep asking myself questions
How to lead them, feed them, interest them so that they can find themselves the subtleties ?
How to arouse their curiosity and ensure this immersion in the world of Bastard Amber is not just yet another choreography that they are learning ?
How to share this unique experience ?
September 2014
There is this day, this improvisation, this meeting between two worlds that seem to me, a priori, opposed.
There is this eye, this intuition of a relevant choreographer.
There is also a bit of curiosity on either side … I guess.
I feel magnetized by this world, this uncommon way of moving in the space.
And finally, this duet happens
THE DISPLACEMENT. Henry and Sarah
… A moment, a suspended bubble, still intact in my memory…
February 2019
How am I going to transmit the essence of this duet, of this particular moment ?
I give them more autonomy and let them understand the movements, the space between the two dancers and the bodies.
I give them time to understand this time …
And little by little, we talk about density, condensation, crossed spaces, distortion … and at one point the magic operates
A suspended silence surrounds this duet every time they perform it.
I feel it becomes an unique moment for them also and that touches me.
END