It was in working on Isadora Duncan that Cecilia Bengolea and François Chaignaud discovered the little-known figure of François Malkovsky, an artist and teacher who was very active in France during the interwar period. A strong pacifist, he had created an ideal of life for himself; he lived very close to nature and was fascinated by antiquity. Inspired by the movement of natural elements and animals, his free dances were practiced by his students like so many exercises for the body and mind. Guided on stage by Suzanne Bodak, who has been a student of Malkovsky, Cecilia Bengolea and François Chaignaud, accompanied by two other dancers and a pianist, bring back to life this repertory composed of solos, duets and group dances. Inspired by antique bas reliefs, these choreographies are characterized by an elegant simplicity and great expressiveness. Executed to famous piano pieces - Bach, Chopin, Schumann, Fauré... -, they give free rein to a joyous-looking dance that the performers' naked and made-up bodies colour in an ambiguous fashion. "The point is not only to rejoice over the lost beauty of these dances but to question the ideal of the body that animates and to link them with our period. While not claiming to be political, they convey a very questionable image of the body," Cecilia Bengolea and François Chaignaud explain. On stage appears the ambivalent figure of a community brought together for the pleasure of dancing. In a society plagued by standardization, Danses libres blows a wind of freedom, in a playful way and without the least false naiveté. MF
Distribution
conception Cecilia Bengolea, François Chaignaud
choregraphy François Malkovsky (1889-1982)
choregraphy transmission Suzanne Bodak
lighting Erik Houllier
with Cecilia Bengolea, Suzanne Bodak, François Chaignaud, Thiago Granato, Lenio Kaklea, Mickaël Phelippeau
and at the piano Alexandre Bodak
Production
production VLOVAJOB PRU
coproduction Le Quartz Scène nationale de Brest, La Ménagerie de Verre (Paris), AMM Musique-Mouvement, CNDC Angers, Festival Artdanthé Théâtre de Vanves, Festival Uzès Danse