HE water lilies disappear into the darkness. In the oval room of the Orangerie Museum in Paris, the aquatic panels created by Monet at the end of his life, between 1890 and 1926, dissolve into a cosmic cloud whose contours we can no longer perceive. They surround a dark, strange and large figure that seems to extract itself from the environment to live its life. Two shadows emerge and soon return to blend with the ambient nebula.
This performance titled Figuresdanced and imagined by Dalila Belaza with Aragorn Boulanger, was on display, on Monday, October 14, in the choreographic cycle “Dance dans les Nymphéas”. In front of an audience seated in a semicircle on cushions, the metamorphosis ritual proposed by Belaza acquires an aura of solemnity. The challenge of comparing yourself to Monet’s masterpiece lining the curved walls almost disappeared here. “I didn’t want to be trapped in this environment and have the water lilies serve as a backdrop to my gestureexplains Dalila Belaza. Hiding them – something that has apparently never been done before – for me is about finding a balance between them and my work. The atmosphere of the paintings, on the other hand, and the place create a particular resonance and open a new narrative to my piece. »
This fade to black is, in fact, the first within the framework of this operation launched in 2018, in which stars such as Carolyn Carlson, the Canadian Marie Chouinard, a regular in museums in Canada and the United States, and the Israeli Sharon Eyal participated. “Until now, choreographers have always highlighted and moved Monet’s painted panels, so amazed are they when faced with this masterpiece known throughout the world.says Isabelle Danto, programmer. It is an inspiring but very intimidating space.. Dance and painting often function as communicating vessels between contemplation and action. »
Exciting challenge
This meeting at the Orangerie, highly appreciated by the public, is part of a museum agenda, in France and abroad, increasingly reinforced by choreographic pieces of all kinds. From Orsay to the Louvre, passing through the Pompidou Center in Paris, from the Tate Modern in London to the MoMA in New York, which also has a department dedicated to acting and dance, the programming of shows has become part of the routine and have been gaining momentum over the last ten years. “Dance is always looking for new territories”explains Isabelle Danto.
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