Le Corps du Ballet | GRECO & SCHOLTEN

What is a classical ballet corps? What does the ballet corps represent? Greco and Scholten bid ‘le corps de ballet’ adieu and for their new piece Le Corps DU BALLET, they draw inspiration from Elias Canetti’s Masse und Macht (Crowds and Power), from the phenomenon of synchronicity and from the relationship of the individual body to the ‘corps’ of the ensemble. Beyond the Louis XIVs, Balanchines, Béjarts and Petipas, Le Corps DU BALLET bursts its frame and faces a new adventure. A crowd, an army corps, a troop goes through the classical motions and emulates bygone icons. But when the fixed patterns and figures, existing frameworks and dictated rhythms are shattered, one overriding desire takes hold: to play and to control: jouer et controler. A body shouts and the mass responds. All for One and One for All, with vitamins and cigarettes in their pockets in search of faith, hope and charity. Old certainties become fluid, coordination with the other and coherent combination are called for. After all, dancing is no longer straightforward. Pressure points turn into knots and before you know it, there’s a revolt in the square.

Greco and Scholten continue their dialogue with classical ballet and give it another impulse with their Le Corps DU BALLET. Lighting, sound and music recreate the dance and provide commentary. Together with composer Sébastien Gaxie, Greco and Scholten developed a ‘musical grammar of synchronicity’.
Le Corps DU BALLET is a velvet revolution that keeps 27 dancers on their feet, whether they enter the arena with their visors open or shut.

"Le Corps du Ballet" | GRECO & SCHOLTEN
Choreography: Emio Greco | Pieter C. Scholten
Sound, light, set concept: Emio Greco| Pieter C. Scholten
Composition and Sound design: Sébastien Gaxie and Pieter C. Scholten
Costume: Clifford Portier
Lighting: Henk Danner
Projection: Joost Rekveld
Vidéo: Henri Veran

Creation for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo
 

Premiere held on April 20th 2011, Grimaldi Forum Monaco