Statut
Présentation
Press
Press review of the articles published following the press conference organized on 4th September by the Cervantino International Festival.
A very fine piece by Michèle Noiret this Palimpseste Solo/Duo with David Drouard, in which she revisits her solo-matrix Solo Stockhausen (1997) extending it with a skilful, sensual pas de deux. The language of Stockhausen, swept by Noiret’s volatile moods, brings out the disconnected score of an always destabilising intimate monologue. With fingers more talkative than ever, extremely lively eyes, a changing face in the present..."
Variations on a Palimpseste
Michèle Noiret adapts her highly personal solo into a duo in which she is joined by David Drouard in a work full of beauty and lightness.
"To the sound of a barely audible music box, Michèle Noiret, elegant, impeccable in posture and deportment, makes her way to the back of the stage in small, tight steps that rub the floor. Her fingers describe arabesques that draw figures. She murmurs words, throws out looks to the audience, to people in the audience. She seems to ransack her memory for recollections, which she allows to rise up through her body. Gestures, precise, delicate, takes the place of language. The music box makes way for the piano and clarinet. Tension asserts itself, like the music, gestures echo the notes, movement brings the music to life. David Drouard arrives, following her, clinging to her, passing on the movement to her. They pit themselves against each other, brush against one other, touching, in a duo that is sometimes nervous, always harmonious, oscillating between seduction and domination. The movements are in harmony, rely on each other, interlink. (…) Palimpseste Solo/Duo yields a light, syncopated piece, subtle in resonance, dialogue, and in which the eyes are as important as the body."
Palimpseste Solo/Duo, light, mystery
Michèle Noiret goes back over her homage to Stockhausen, this time in a duo with David Drouard.
"In 1997 the dancer and choreographer paid homage to the master (Karlheinz Stockhausen) in Solo Stockhausen. In 2014 she made some improvements to the solo to create “Palimpseste”, like a Medieval copyist recycling an ancient manuscript. Two years later Palimpseste Solo/Duo was born – in Paris, in the Maurice Béjart auditorium (sic) at the Théâtre national de Chaillot. Explored anew, the zodiac is sketched from small glissés to murmurs (“I lost myself in a labyrinth of gestures”), from a straight path to twists, from an impalpable muteness to sensual and playful dialogue with the music, from chiselled mannerism to relaxation. (…) Michèle Noiret’s first intention was to pass on her solo. But the desire to change, to evolve it herself gained the upper hand. Herself, but not by herself: the second part of Palimpseste Solo/Duo sees David Drouard arrive on stage, his presence, rooted in the earth and delicate, powerfully goes through the range of elements and the oh so particular geography of the signs. Stockhausen was “a stunning revelation”, he confesses, he who, before becoming a dancer, long practised music – especially the clarinet. In its apparent austerity Palimpseste Solo/Duo searches for and reveals a rather uncommon story, a rich memory facing forward, a personal, lived-in composition, sometimes austere, resolutely organic."
The pulsating adventure of a solo
"Palimpseste Solo/Duo is a work of gestural richness and astonishing expressiveness, such that its reading lends itself to various interpretations (...) It is perfectly understandable that the choreographer wished to convey such a gem to future generations. And, in this regard, her meeting with David Drouard proved decisive. (...) But, more than a collaboration, a genuine friendship, even a real love, seems to have been established between the two artists in the course of the rehearsals and shows through in the performance of this work on stage. Was it real or imagined? It makes no difference. Regardless, the choreographer has managed, through her expressiveness and her art, to take us down paths other than those originally anticipated…"
It is a very fine, very subtle, choreographic work based on Tierkreis.(…) The beautiful, calm dancer pursues an uninterrupted dialogue with the music, lively arms, head and legs in a dynamic fervour, especially when the musical sequences are played forte. (…) The solo becomes a duo with the appearance of David Drouard, who physically aligns himself with the steps of the dancer. (…) One follows the other, imitating or responding with another gesture, in a mimetic dialogue that here no longer relates to the music but to the partner. All the choreography danced the first time round as a solo takes on another dimension flanked by its missing half. Beyond the mirror and the support that his partner offers, the dancer affirms his own personality, his intrinsic body language, espousing the melodic line of the clarinet or the piano in turns."
Uncluttered and understated, based on Stockhausen’s score of Tierkreis (Zodiac), the piece is split into two parts. Michèle Noiret is alone on the stage for the first, which starts with a funny lopsided walk, taking small steps without raising her feet from the floor. The choreographer seems lost, occupied by a thousand thoughts. She approaches the audience, murmurs the beginnings of sentences, barely audible, capturing the attention by her remarkable presence. There follows a dance of extraordinary musicality, made of deranged balances, sudden accelerations, between great mastery and total naturalness, conjuring a whole world with gestures alone. When Michèle Noiret is at last joined by David Drouard, the couple at first embark on the same walk, their bodies clinging to each other. The closeness of the two artists is clear, as they later continue to move in unison or respond to each other in counterpoint.”
Michèle Noiret blends precision with feeling: each of her gestures punctuates with rigueur and exactitude the composition of the German musician. (…) Michèle Noiret captivates through the grace and elegance she transmits, the tricks, the mischief, the seduction that accompanies every one of her “chapters". (…) Managing to unleash the sensuality and the dance in Stockhausen’s music: a challenge that Michèle Noiret accepts with a taste for eternal rebirth.»
The use of a musical version written for a music box leads the spectator into a universe that is both intimate and remote. The body movements are minimalistic but laden with meaning. Through the movements of arms and hands, a form of personal dialogue is established, which opens up an inner questioning. The audience is led to this contemplation in an even more compelling way in the musical version for piano and clarinet. Here, the tones are more distinct, the two instruments echoing each other, and the choreography appears closer, more real. This alternation of musical forms creates on stage a past-present contrast like a journey through time.”
Cast & credits
Conception and choreography Michèle Noiret
Created and interpreted by Michèle Noiret et David Drouard
Artistic collaboration Dominique Duszynski
Assistant Marielle Morales
Music Karlheinz Stockhausen, "Tierkreis" for clarinet and piano, audio recording interpreted by Majella Stockhausen and Suzanne Stephens. Or interpreted live by the pianist Thomas Besnard and the clarinettist Hannah Morgan (version with musicans on stage).
Scenography Xavier Lauwers, Michèle Noiret
Light design Xavier Lauwers
Sound and light technician Xavier Lauwers
Technical direction Christian Halkin
Photography Sergine Laloux
Production & touring Claire Geyer
Communication & press Alexandra de Laminne
Administration & coordination Cathy Zanté
Duration 60 minutes
Production Compagnie Michèle Noiret/Tandem asbl.
Produced with the support of the Ministère de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Service de la Danse
The first step of the show was presented as part of La belle scène Saint-Denis at the Festival Off d’Avignon 2015