Ballade for clarinetist dancer - Video

Do you remember of the announce of the Dancers' Dozen show? Here is the video of Ballade:

Ballade is one of the "12 Études for Clarinetist Dancer." As written in my original plan, the piece includes several references:

• First, the form of the piece is modeled after the classical verse form ballade. It is therefore made of 3 eight-line stanzas and a final envoi.
• The opening clarinet phrase could be heard (and analyzed) as a variation on the solo overtures of Debussy’s “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune”, and Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps.”
• Similarly to the music, the choreography makes use of three sources of inspiration. During the first part ("stanza"), the dance builds upon movements from Nijinsky’s Prélude à l’après- midi d’un faune.
• In the second part, music and movement become more earthy. The dance is developed mainly after a cell from Nijinsky’s Rite of Spring.
• In the third part, I use gestures referencing François Villon’s Ballade des Pendus. I chose eight lines from the third stanza:

La pluie nous a lessivés et lavés
Et le soleil nous a séchés et noircis;
Pies, corbeaux nous ont creusé les yeux,
Et arraché la barbe et les sourcils.
Jamais un seul instant nous ne sommes assis;
De ci de là, selon que le vent tourne,
Il ne cesse de nous ballotter à son gré,
Plus becquétés d'oiseaux que dés à coudre.
Ne soyez donc de notre confrérie,
Mais priez Dieu que tous nous veuille absouldre!

Read here an English translation and here the original version in Old French.

Manuscript

Here are the three pages of the score (including music and dance), on which I have worked since the beginning of the project. You can read several layers of comments and modifications reflecting the evolution of the work through time.

The most drastic modifications, made during the last few days before the premiere, are not written, though. I say drastic, because I reshaped the end of the work (thanks to the teachers Elizabeth Bergmann and Joshua Legg for the piece of advice...) These final changes are only memorized in my body and mind... and now on video.

Page 1, "Le Faune"	Page 2, "Le Sacre"	Page 3, "Ballade des Pendus"

12 Études for clarinetist dancer

One of my on-going projects has been the composition of “12 Études for clarinetist dancer.” In the tradition of musical studies designed for the musician to improve his/her skills in a precise domain, each piece will actualize a different approach in terms of:

• musical composition technique
• choreographic style
• relation between music and dance
• proportion of written and improvised elements
• notation

Here is the (provisional) May 2007 version of my plan for these 12 studies:

I cleaned-up this plan to include it in my final presentation for a course I took in the Spring of 2007:

Music and Movement

Tomie Hahn is a singular artist. I quote the bio on her sweet website:

Tomie Hahn is a performer and ethnologist whose activities span a wide range of topics including: Japanese traditional performing arts, Monster Truck rallies, issues of identity and creative expression of multiracial individuals, and relationships of technology and culture; interactive dance/movement performance; and gestural control and extended human/computer interface in the performing arts.

In the Spring of 2007, she was a visiting professor at Harvard University and I took her course "Performing Body, Media, Identity". The course was very engaging, and the group of students was great. We were an active ensemble of undergrad and grad students, from anthropologists to ethnomusicologists, with a composer.

The best point was the unique blend of scholarly research and performance that Tomie managed to make an integrate part of the class. From assignments to the final project, both traditional scholar work and embodied performance-based presentations were expected. That has been the basis for lively and enriching exchanges between all the students.

Tomie took the picture above during my final presentation. I was performing a preview of the study Weight.

Check out her recent book: Sensational Knowledge: Embodying Culture through Japanese Dance.

During the class, I wrote a paper on existing compositions for dancing musicians. Have you ever heard of dancing musicians, singing dancers, or dancers playing instruments while dancing, in any area and cultural context? Leave a comment, I would love to discuss about it!

Next week, I will bring to you the video of Ballade, an étude that I performed for the first time in May 2008.

Ballade for clarinetist dancer

May has been a great dance season at Harvard.

I invite you to Dancers' Dozen - New dances by 12 student choreographers created in Dramatic Arts 14a, a course taught by Lecturer Elizabeth Bergmann, with Assistant Joshua Legg (meet the Dance Staff).

Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at 7PM - Free.
Harvard Dance Center - 60 Garden Street - Cambridge, MA

I will perform for the first time my composition Ballade for clarinetist dancer (or dancing clarinetist?), and there will be awesome choreographers and dancers.

In the meantime, have a look at Liz Bergmann's great little book: Connecting to Creativity: Ten Keys to Unlocking Your Creative Potential

More information about Dance at Harvard.

Rever - dancing musician and singing dancer

In 2004, I had a great time touring with the Ensemble New Flore our show "Spirales", in Strasbourg, Bouxwiller and Geneva. With the dancer and choreograph Alice Gervais-Ragu, we performed my composition "Rêver" for dancing clarinetist and singing dancer.

Working on that piece has been a terrific experience. I look forward to working again with Alice on a new project of hers: a show featuring four artists who have all an appetite for both movement and sound. I say appetite, for the show will be centered around the topic "cook."

Jean-François.