As dance practitioner I am convinced that La Belle Danse is an artistic activity, pure dance itself. The actual physical observation of the sources confirms the need to have a clear conception of a style. Constant experiment has lead us to the pertinence of the written codes and precisely how to embody them. This quest is essential to Dance itself. It is not a style of coded gestures derived from the logic of movement itself. It is not like those efficient gestures used by a police agent directing the flow of traffic : they are indeed useful, but that’s all.
Are we dealing with an aesthetic of Form or an aesthetic of Sensibility?
In our times we tend to treat the historical, traditional concept of art as based upon an aesthetic of form, even if there are many forms. I have come to believe that these forms underlie an aesthetic of the senses.
Which senses? What sensibility? What is the meaning that comes to life in mouvement?
« The theory of art as an incarnation of meaning opens the understanding of how aesthetic qualities can contribute to the significance of a work. »
–Arthur C. Danto, « Embodied meanings, isotypes, and aesthetical ideas », art. cit., pp. 123-126.
As a dancer, I will be speaking of very basic technique which is already in the service of la manière, thus the senses. The art of dance in the « doing » of physical gestures. The interpretation of steps as described in words and written signs (notation) inevitably coded to indicate steps and arm gestures as well as movement in general (cadence).
The fundamental source will be Le Maitre à danser of Pierre Rameau and his colleagues.
We will be furnishing some examples.
« To retrieve history we need rigour, integrity, unsparing devotion and an impulse to scepticism. To retrieve the past, we require all those virtues, and something more. If we want added value – to imagine not just how the past was, but what it felt like, from the inside – we pick up a novel. » — Hilary Mantel.
I propose a workshop on the interpretation of the well-known Sarabande : Air pour les Espagnols, Pecour version – pour Femme, Lully, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme.
Those who wish to participate in the workshop should know the steps and the choreography.
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Christine Bayle, dancer, choreographer, actress and stage director is an expert in the Baroque period, mainly from the 16th to the 18th century. She works with dance, interpretation of French suites with dance, theater and the baroque eloquence of the body. She prefers original theatrical creations with musicians playing on stage. She has made more than fifty ballets and productions both in France and in Europe, America, Japan and China. Also pedagogic missions with AFAA in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico ; lastly, she created a comedie-ballet « Armande Béjart, épouse Molière » and a musical show « Le jeune Amour » based on two Contes of Jean de La Fontaine. She works with a loyal team of dancers that she has formed and musicians led by Patrick Blanc in the two companies she has founded, L’Eclat des Muses and Cie Belles Dances. She has submitted numerous publications including those with EADH, EDC, ACRAS, CNRS, PUF, Garnier, etc… Member of PRO DA, ACRAS, CIRRAS…