Abstract/Life

In our way of reading (and classifying) works of art, we often tend to distinguish what is abstract from what is representational. When listening to Abstract, the score Bruno Mantovani composed for his new ballet, Jean- Christophe Maillot found that this conceptual music generated more images than suggested in the title. “Music cannot but trigger emotions in me, even complex contemporary music. For me, music represents art in its most absolute form. However invisible and elusive, it always relates to a perception of the world that engenders emotion, hence movement.”

Bruno Mantovani’s music is generous. It is brimming with life... lots of life; hence, Jean- Christophe Maillot’s will to extend the title given the work by its composer. By renaming his ballet Abstract/Life, the choreographer warns: “I’m often amazed at the difference between our perception of things and their reality. For example, when you see people in the street, you imagine their lives, their joys and sorrows... You feel you understand them because they are like you. Yet, nothing is more abstract and undecipherable than a crowd in a public place. Life files by and thought actually has little to say about it.”

Consequently, Jean-Christophe Maillot decided to alter the parameters regulating the way he usually works. Typically, he listens to the music to guide his search for new steps. But, for Abstract/Life, the choreographer suspended this process. “I sat down looking at the dancers, enveloped in this music and, rather than stand up and improvise movements with them in the studio, I drew from my bank of movements. I embarked on a meticulous plan of choreographic writing based on the choreographic vocabulary I developed over thirty years.” Just as sculptors’ fingers reveal the shapes that characterise their work, Jean- Christophe Maillot devised a choreography no longer arising directly from the music, but rather questioning it and dialoguing with it. Together, they gave rise to movement — to life.

Choreography: Jean-Christophe Maillot
Music: Abstract, Bruno Mantovani. Commissioned by the festival Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo
With the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Pascal Rophé, Solo violoncelle - Marc Coppey
Assistant choreographers: Bernice Coppieters, Gaëtan Morlotti
Scenography and Costumes: Aimée Moreni
Lighting: Dominique Drillot
Duration: 48 mn

Premiere by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, on April 26th 2018, Grimaldi Forum Monaco