As part of Presi-danses:
In French, with Hungarian subtitles.
What remains engraved on the memory of an audience long after the spectacle they saw one evening has gone? Choreographer Olga de Soto went off in search of members of the audience in the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris on 25 June 1946 for a première from a mythical ballet, based on a poem by Jean Cocteau. As she interviewed them, their memories and emotions resurfaced, once more bringing the spectacle to life, illuminated by recollections that had until now been buried in darkness. The choreographer has composed a subjective impression from their recollections and emotions, projecting it onto screens on a theatre stage – its original setting. (Claire Diez, KunstenFESTIVALdesArts, Brussels)
De Soto tried to find out what had happened with the members of the original staff:
Cocteau died in 1963. Roland Petit cannot be found. Georges Wakhevitch died in 1984. Karinska died in 1983. Jean Babilée is in good health. Nathalie Philippart, very difficult to find, very difficult to meet. Boris Kochno, then Director of the Ballets des Champs Elysées, died in 1990.
Concept, direction and choreography: Olga DE SOTO
With: Cyril ACCORSI and Olga DE SOTO
Video direction, camera and sound: Olga DE SOTO
Video editing: Montxo DE SOTO and Olga DE SOTO
With testimonies of (in order of appearance): Micheline HESSE, Suzanne BATBEDAT, Robert GENIN, Brigitte EVELLIN, Julien PLEY, Françoise OLIVAUX, Olivier MERLIN and Frédéric STERN
Music: Johann Sebastian BACH (piano compositions)
Performed by: Angela HEWITT, piano
Set design: Thibault VANCRAENENBROECK
Lighting design: Henri-Emmanuel DOUBLIER
Lighting regie: Geni DIEZ / Sarah SCOUARNEC
Sound: Pierre GUFFLET
Technical direction: Christophe GUALDE
Co-production: NIELS (ex Coto de Caza asbl), KunstenFESTIVALdesArts, Centre National de la Danse – Pantin With the support of: COM4 HD – Madrid and Ministère de la Communauté française Wallonie-Bruxelles; « Hommages » Culturgest, Lissabon 2003
Premier: May 2004, KunstenFESTIVALdesArts, Bruxelles
Thanks to: Catherine Alvès, Odette Aslan, Dominique Baguette, Michèle Bargues, Suzanne Batbedat, Pierre Caizergues, Jean-Jacques Chabut, Sybille Cornet, Cécile Coutin et Simone Drouin (Département des Arts du Spectacle de la Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal – Paris), Eugénie De Mey, François Deppe, Ramón de Soto, Eliane Dheygere, Brigitte Evellin, Dominique Frétard, Robert Genin, Carlos González, Micheline Hesse, Colin Legras, Francis Lepigeon, Olivier Merlin, Nadine vzw – Bruxelles, Stéphane Noël, Françoise Olivaux, Jean Robin, Frédéric Stern, Superamas, Théâtre de la Balsamine, Michel Troadec, Georges Alexander Van Dam, Gaëtan van den Berg, Marie-Christine Vernay and Christophe Wavelet.
Very special thanks to: Marc Bouteiller, Nathalie Collantès, Hyperion Records Ltd, Olivier Hespel, Jorge León, Manuela Gutiérrez, Luis Sanz, Olivier Tiremarche, Grégoire Romefort and to Antón
