Post Number 16 - Avignon/Lyon

We arrived in the south with such perfect timing.

My body has needed to crash and fall apart for many weeks now, and after the Danish Dance Theater audition I fell sick. Ants and other assorted insects crawled in my throat and lungs, and my head filled with a putrid green smoke which solidified to form sharp green pincers poking away at my temples. I constantly felt the need to lie down, my mind could function even less than it normally does (if that is even possible) and just walking around found me out of breath.

How happy I was to stumble out of a plane in Marseille! Natalie and I were speechless, we could only stand in awe and soak in the glory of the sun on our skin. I was ready to die and go to heaven. I cannot begin to describe how incredible the feeling was. I know you people in Perth are, like, ‘What are you talking about mate?’ but you just don’t understand! We were in the south of France.

We made this trip to participate in the Hivernales Dance Festival, a suggestion made by Serena. We had no idea what to expect. We were to find out how exclusively French it was. If you mentioned it to anyone outside French speaking countries, they would probably have never heard about it.

By the time we were organized enough to choose which workshops we wanted, they were all pretty much full except for the contemporary dance workshop with Charles Cre-Ange, which was a six-day workshop. It stated on the program that it was for dancers at an advanced level. It seemed interesting, even though we could only make out a little bit of the workshop description (our French is limited, you see). We settled that we would just do his workshop and make the most out of it.

Let me introduce to you the word that describes his workshop. Faf. Yes, faf. This word may be new to some of you. You probably won’t find it in the dictionary, but it is a word that definitely exists, especially for this particular workshop. F-A-F. I hope that by now you will understand that we didn’t do anything hardcore or outrageous or remotely interesting. By faf I mean we danced as though we were not even remotely interested in the art. Sure, we faffed around leading with different parts of our body and tried to make duos and trios with the other faffers in the class. I don’t know how much deeper I can go into this, because it will probably bore you to tears just reading about it. Let me tell you that it wasn’t the best kind of workshop to do when you’re not in an ideal state of health. But it is also the best workshop because not much energy or effort is required. Advice for anyone who wants to participate in Hivernales: book your workshops early and don’t choose the one we did.

To make up for the excellent and inspiring workshops (with the utmost sarcasm intended) the shows were awesome! Even the performance by Cre-Ange was really well done and creative. On the first night we had to travel west to the small neighbouring town of Arles to watch ôQueens (a body lab). It was a dance theatre piece, so Nat and I struggled to understand it when they spoke in French. Luckily, we met this awesome volunteer called Elsa who spoke immaculate English (she studied English literature and lived in New Zealand for a while) so she helped us out quite a lot. If we didn’t meet her we wouldn’t have been able to make it to Arles as we needed to get into a carpool that was organized by the festival. Anyway, ôQueens was really interesting. There were three British bulldogs in it, a crazy stripper lady with a million different zips in her jeans (and she never got naked!), an even crazier girl with hair down to her ass and dangerous black pointe shoes. There was also an old man who did most of the talking, and an opera singer in a balaklava. I didn’t understand most of it, but I enjoyed it for what it was and whatever dance that was involved.

The next performance was the one by Charles Cre-Ange. I actually really enjoyed the performance. There was some faffing involved, but there were also moments of such exquisite beauty. There was a girl in a blonde wig, who began in a white dress and red shoes, but changed her wardrobe several times during the performance. She even put on a wedding dress and a veil and spun around like a madwoman, it was great. However, on a slightly less positive note, I think he used a little too much repetition and it started to drone on and on about three quarters of the way through the performance.

Number three was a show called Black!...White? I could easily say that this was my favourite. It was clever, funny and entertaining. There was a whole section that was on the floor, but filmed with a camera from the top and projected on a screen. It was really enjoyable to watch and the dancing was really good too, My favourite part is probably the Bug Show. Ask me about it, hahaha!

The next performance was in the Benoit XII theatre, and it featured a work by choreographer Thomas Lebrun, entitled Switch. It was performed by four men who wore masks the entire time. What I really liked about it was that the performers were extremely masculine and rough, but they were also very precise and clean with their movements. It made for a very entertaining and inspiring performance. Nat said afterwards that the piece should go to Australia.

Our last performance was called Monsieur Zero, famous when dead? The choreographer had been a dancer in Pina Bauch’s company, so a lot of the movement I was able to identify with, especially after watching the company and also working with Michael. It was an awesome solo performance, which also included some weird singing and sticking his head in a pile of sand. We ended the performance with a chocolat chaud and a coffee. On the whole I was very satisfied with the performances. I was expecting them to be over the top and too avant garde, but I thought they were all very efficient and clever and ultimately very enjoyable. You already know what I think about the workshop, so I shall say nothing.

Lyon

We made our way up north to the city of Lyon. After an eventful (and non-eventful) train journey, we made it to the city. We climbed a mountain or two before we found our hostel, but after that everything seemed to go smoothly (apart from the fact that I almost burned down the kitchen by making soup). We managed to score a class with the Ballet L’Opera de Lyon, by repeating Kim McCarthy’s name several times. The studio is simply breathtaking. It is on the top floor with a massive glass window facing the city and the mountains in the background. I can’t describe it in words. It’s just too beautiful, did I mention big?? After class we watched them rehearse Mats Ek’s Giselle. I can’t tell you how jealous I was, and Ana Laguna was rehearsing them so I almost jumped out the window in envy.

Next stop is French-speaking Switzerland. There is a motor show happening in Geneva, so there are no rooms available either in Geneva or Lausanne. So now the two of us have to cope with living in Montreux for a while, we’ll just have to overlook Lake Geneva, that’s all. I can’t imagine it will be too difficult. I also managed to score us two classes with Bejart Ballet. I am so smart J