Open rehearsal of Dancefloor - Michèle Murray
Open rehearsal of Dancefloor - Michèle Murray
Thursday, February 2, 2023 - 7:00PM / CCN - Ballet de Lorraine
A corps de ballet consisting of 26 male and female dancers
“For this new work, I decided to work with the full company of the Ballet de Lorraine, including all 26 dancers, experimenting with the effects of choreographing for such a large group.
One of the essential elements in my work is that the body is always the specific starting point, both subject and object of the piece to be created.
So each creation is built entirely on the individuals dancing in it and the subject of the work is the group of 26 dancers, who have all experienced the same research process and who are each unique individuals with their own training, experiences, stage presence and ideas.
The challenge is to use well the entire corps de ballet, while focusing on the indivuality of each performer – that’s the theme of DANCEFLOOR.
About the title
The literal meaning of the word is “a stage or floor meant to be danced on,” but it also means “a space specifically set aside for dance.” I intend to use both meanings of the term here.
We begin with the spatial concept, the “stage for dance.”
We will be working with the expected rigor of a stage space, creating a score of dance themes, a sort of catalogue. Different tempi, rhythms, spaces, energies and shapes. Which means working with the second concept, the “dance floor.”
This space time event channels the night, a synonym for freedom and the expressivity of the bodies, a freer space – time, with significantly fewer constraints than during the day. We are seeking both the freedom and the expressivity of the bodies, the singularity of these individuals. Taking over this vast space – time with 26 bodies, flying free, overflowing with energy.
Dance, music, lighting, set and costumes.
As in all my work, the relationship between the dance, music, lighting, set and costumes is multiple, existing in parallel and independently, with mutual support, reciprocal service, conflicting – all cohabiting in the same space.
We hope to generate energy, share sensations and our experiences, between DANCEFLOOR and its audience.
Rehearsals open to audiences allow them to observe the intimacy of the choreographer and his/ her dancers at work. They are interactive, and include exchanges with audiences in attendance.
Duration: 1 hour
Free entry
Informations / bookings with the Box-office: billetterie@ballet-de-lorraine.eu / T. +33 (0)3 83 85 69 08
(c)Julien Reyes
Michèle Murray
MICHELE MURRAY is a choreographer and artistic director of the PLAY / Michèle Murray Company. A Franco-American national, she trained first in Düsseldorf in classical ballet , then in New York with Merce Cunningham and at Movement Research, later on with many teachers and choreographers in Paris before collaborating on various choreographic projects as a performer, notably with “l’art not least” in Berlin, Didier Théron in Montpellier and Bernardo Montet at the Centre Chorégraphique National de Tours. Since 2008, she has also been working as choreographic assistant with Didier Théron.
From 2000 onwards, she develops her personal work within the Michèle Murray Company, which becomes Murray / Brosch Productions in 2008, in artistic collaboration with Maya Brosch. She has created numerous works which have toured extensively in Europe .
In 2012, wishing to concentrate on projects dedicated primarily to dance and choreography, she founds PLAY / Michèle Murray, of which she is artistic director and choreographer, while researching in close collaboration with artist coworkers.
She creates the ATLAS / STUDIES, a “choreographic atlas” of ten short pieces for seven dancers, which is presented for the first time as a whole as part of the Festival Montpellier Danse 2018.
In 2020, she choreographs WILDER SHORES, a performance for six dancers with a musical composition by Gerome Nox for the Festival Montpellier Danse 2020.
She is currently working on EMPIRE OF FLORA, a choreography for four dancers and a DJ which will premiere at the Montpellier Dance Festival 2022.
In 2022, she will also create DUOS – COLLISIONS AND COMBUSTIONS / A CHOREOGRAPHIC COLLECTION FOR THE MUSEUM, which will premiere at the Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für Moderne Kunst- DKW Museum Cottbus on October 1-2, 2022, as part of the Dance in Residence Brandenburg program, Germany.
In April 2023, she will choreograph a dance piece for the 26 performers of the Ballet de Lorraine – CCN Nancy.
Michèle Murray also teaches dance and performance art. Her teaching is closely linked to her choreographic research.