The Art of Baroque Dance
The Art of Baroque Dance
View the Cover | Director/Choreographer | Read the Reviews
In this important DVD/VHS, one famous dance, “Folies d’Espagne", is beautifully explored. This popular dance, with its music, has been selected because it features short highly expressive pieces. Each variation has its own temperament, which is inspiration for that choreography. By viewing the re-creation of this one Baroque dance, "Folies d’Espagne", the viewer can trace 5 important characteristics portrayed in this dance performance:
Thus, this video explores the creative process of researching, reconstructing, re-creating, and performing a Baroque dance. With THE ART OF BAROQUE DANCE : Folies d’Espagne from Page to Stage the public will be able to uncover the secrets of the interpretation of a dance, discover its beauty, better understand the elegance and virtuosity of the French Baroque style, and enter into the world of the very close relationship that existed between dance and music in the 17th century. .
Natalie van ParysIn France Natalie van Parys is considered to be one of the most gifted baroque dancers. After studying ballet and modern dance, she joined the Ris et Danceries company from 1987 to 1994 as a dancer and assistant choreographer. She studied under Francine Lancelot and was her production assistant for Le Malade Imaginaire at the Théâtre du Châtelet in 1990 and for Zarandanzas presented at the Biennale de Lyon in 1992. She participated in large productions of Baroque operas such as Lully’s famous Atys, as well as Les Indes Galantes, Rameau’s Castor et Pollux and Charpentier’s Médée, directed by William Christie, conductor of the Arts Florissants orchestra. She has performed several times at the BAM in New York as well as at the Jacob’s Pillow Festival. Within the company she was also the assistant of François Raffinot, Béatrice Massin and Ana Yepes. Francine Lancelot asked her to translate and study the Italian treatise on dance, Tratatto di ballo di Gennaro Magri, the only text that links baroque dance to the classical ballet of the end of the 18th century. She used these new technical and stylistic elements from the treatise in her choreography La Fée Urgèle by Duni and Favart, performed at the Opéra Comique with Christophe Rousset and staged by Jean-Marie Villégier. The various choreographies that she created to music by Jean-Philippe Rameau while in Japan allowed her to pursue her research on the post-baroque period. Starting from 1995, she created the staging and choreography of six successive baroque operas, for the Hokutopia International Festival of Music in Tokyo: Christophe Rousset also asked her to do the staging of Admeto, re di Tessaglia (G.F. Haendel), for the Haendel Festival in Halle (where the composer was born). In 1995, with several dancers from Ris et Danceries, she created the company Les Fragments Réunis and, together with Françoise Denieau, staged Le Sommeil ou les Métamorphoses d’un Songe, at the Amphithéâtre of the Théâtre National de l’Opéra de Bastille in Paris. This performance organized the dances of the baroque repertory into short scenes according to the four major entertainment themes: Heroic, Idyllic, Exotic and Magical. Since 1994, she has joined the L’Eventail company and continues to choreograph regularly for operas or other events. She has choreographed and staged Béatrice et Bénédict (H. Berlioz), for Jean-Marie Villégier, who directed Atys. The performances took place at the Opera of Lausanne, the main theatre in Bordeaux and at the Rhine Opera. She has also choreographed L’Amant anonyme, a work dating from the end of the 18th century by the Knight of Saint George, for the Opera in Metz. She is highly respected for the staging of a performance dedicated to the works of her grandfather, Georges van Parys, a composer who wrote songs such as La complainte de la Butte, sung recently in the film Moulin Rouge by Ewan McGregor. Les Cavatines, her latest company, is dedicated to the preservation and production of the French tradition in the lyric arts: dance, musical theatre, comedy, and operettas.
Reviews"Produced in France and featuring both English and French audio tracks, The Art of Baroque Dance: Folies d'Espagne from Page to Stage is a stellar survey of the nuances of traditional 17th century dance, as it has been preserved and practiced up to the modern day. Historical and arhitectural images intersperse this wondrously informative examination of Baroque dance notation, treatment of space, arm embellishments, relation to music, and interpretation of the dancer. Director and choreographer Natalie Van Parys applies her years of experience in Baroque dance companies in this one-of-a-kind DVD presentation enthusiastically recommended for anyone interested in the rich cultural history of Baroque dance." "The French production The Art of Baroque Dance amply illustrates the process of recreating a Baroque dance... Enriched by lovely cinematography and period instruments, this fine production can be enjoyed by dance professionals and casual viewers alike. Highly recommended." "Just as museums preserve works representative of the artistic creation of a specific era, so this video is conceived as a “museum of the dance,” designed to safeguard the fruits of years of Baroque dance research for future generations." "Excellent way to broaden everyone's knowledge of Baroque Dance. Filled with great historical information regarding this dance along with the choreographic notes,this DVD will show you the French presentation of this elegant dance" "Excellent way to broaden everyone's knowledge of Baroque dance. Filled with great historical information regarding this dance along with the choreographic notes, this DVD will show you the French presentation of this elegant Dance." |
