‘ Les Caprices de la Danse ’ by L'Eventail Baroque Dance Company

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The Carnival

Les Caprices de la Danse

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Press Review

[Version française.]

L’EVENTAIL BAROQUE DANCE COMPANY

presents

Ballet

Music by Jean-Fery Rebel

La Tepsichore (1720), Fantaisie (1728)
Les Plaisirs Champêtres (1734), Les Caractères de la Danse (1715)
Les Elémens (1737), Caprice (1711)

A creation by L’Eventail Baroque Dance Company

Design and choreography by Marie-Geneviève Massé

Les Caprices de la Danse, Versailles, June 1998

In the 18th century, the choreographic symphonies of Jean-Féry Rebel caused a great impact. They are the foundation of today’s ballet. For the first time ever a composer wrote a piece of music specifically intended for dance. Music and dance alone were to convey the drama and theatre.

Fairy characters, gods, goddesses, allegories of fire, water, air, and ever present love evoke dream, ostentation and humor.

As in a dream, all these wonderful and picturesque characters appear from depth of the night coming to life on the subtle and enchanting music of Jean-Féry Rebel. Once, they have given their all, they vanish beyond the light and sound.

Forgetting time, a devourer of the universe and on the look out for men. Memory of their pleasures, their prayers, memory of harmony, she leads all the characters (Arlequin, Pierrot, Colombine, Leander, Matamor, the fortune teller, the conceited little master, the “coquette”) into a whirlwind.

Some characters demonstrate the style of the “Camargo” virtuoso dancers with their sterling temperament: abstract dances for the sole pleasure of movement, symmetry in the academic dance style.

Others create another personality for the 18^th century dances: Marie Sallé, with a tendency to expressionism, was avant-garde for her time.

12 dancers of L’Eventail Baroque Dance Company

Terpsichore, Allegory of Love
Arlequine, Allegory of Air
Gipsy Woman, Allegory of Fire
Colombine, Allegory of Water
The Three Parcæ
The Young Man
Pierrot
Matamor
Leander
Morphée
The Coquette
The Marquis

Length of the performance: 70 minutes

Set and Costumes: Olivier Bériot

“Une heureuse surprise” Le Figaro, June 18, 1998.

“ […] This production is not a laborious historical reproduction. It is an original creation full of invention with a baroque flavour. The choreographer had the excellent idea to give a new life to these six choreo-graphic symphonies by Jean-Féry Rebel (1666-1747). Jean-Féry Rebel was the director of the “Concert Spirituel” under the King Louis XV. He was also a composer, equal to the best, which is proved in his Elémens… ”

“Féérique” Le Parisien, June 13, 1998.

“ Le spectacle qui a pour cadre le précieux écrin de l’Opéra royal, est une féérie. La Compagnie L’Eventail de Marie-Geneviève Massé, se déploie dans des jeux de masque et de lumières où le raffinement des costumes, l’élégance et la subtilité des gestes sont d’un art consommé, révélateur d’une culture à l'apogée de son art. ”

“Grand Siècle” Les Saisons de la Danse, August 1998.

“ Here we have choreography that is inventive, alert, gracious… and well performed. All dancers are remarkable and are able to double as mime artists to draw the audience into the fun. ”

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