Xavier Le Roy
Sinopsis
When watching a rehearsal of the concert Le sacre du printemps by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on DVD, Xavier Le Roy was so intrigued by the movements made by the conductor Sir Simon Rattle that he decided to create a piece based on this classical work by Stravinsky. Without any musical training, his analysis concentrated on the conductor’s performance, as if it were a choreography of movements that sometimes seem to produce music and sometimes seem to be produced by it.
The result is a highly detailed and surprising solo that confuses causality with the function of the original movements, raising questions that lie at the core of contemporary choreographical creation. What comes first: sound or movement? Is it music that gives rise to movements or dance that uses music? How do the bodies that dance Le sacre du printemps act and interact? What does a musician, hear? A conductor, a dancer or a spectator? If hearing is, first and foremost, a bodily experience, won’t it be a visceral experience of movement and sound for all those taking part?