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Workshops 2006
Marion Ballester
Week1: July 17 - 21
12:05 - 14:05Rosas Rep. Adv*
14:15 - 16:15ADD Rosas Rep. Adv*
18:20 - 20:05Contemporary Technique Beg
Week2: July 24 - 28
09:50 - 11:50Rosas Rep. Adv*
12:15 - 14:15ADD Rosas Rep. Adv*
Intensive2: July 29 + 30
09:45 - 12:15 & 15:00 - 17:30Composition Adv

Rosas Repertory
The work is based on the TRIO dance piece which is part of the show called " DESH".

The choreographic writing of the trio is really close to the musical composition, which is a strong aspect of the universe of Anne Theresa de Keersmaeker. As well, AT de Keermaeker’s work contains the use of structure, a kind of grammar. I propose to explore the structure of choreographic composition as a concrete way of building dance, of seeing choreography as a whole in relation to appropriate laws and a pre-defined ground-plan. Though structure constrains, it also liberates, conferring autonomy and capability, liberty and rigor to the dancer and dance maker. Also it generates activity, within a group or within the individual artist, linking time, music, silence, space, others who are present, helping create a work of art with the flavor of live performance!
Here, Indian music has a particular relationship with the rythm.
We will learn the piece with movement or writing adaptation.


Contemporary Technique
Freedom in Movement

“I see my teaching as being about freedom in the practice of movement achieved by means of a certain technical rigor.”
The class is divided into three parts; a warm-up on the floor, a barré in the centre and a dance sequence that moves through the space.
During the preparative warm-up we aim to heighten awareness of the internal space in relation to external space by paying special attention to breath, to the deep bone structure and to the body’s centre of gravity. Through breathing exercises, we strive to sharpen perceptions in order to enhance consciousness of the skin, of weight, of the internal organs, of the whole corporal mass and of the voice.
The body stands erect from its base to its summit; pushing vertically from the floor from the back of the heels to the top of the head, articulated by, alternately, suppleness and solidity.
We begin to dance keeping hold of these same notions of lines of force and the use of weight. We extend the first impulse of movement in the space so that the gesture becomes the inscription of desire and intent, paying attention to direction and musicality, seeking movement that is both communal and personnel. Little by little the movement gains in sensitivity and grows more powerful, allowing for more expression and legibility.
(Influenced by the Alexander and Feldenkrais techniques, by Iyengar yoga and the Susan Klein technique approach, I want to bring to bare a physical practice built on perception and imagination and to share the personnel venture that lived during my various experiences as performer, teacher and choreographer.)


Composition
The ephemeral and unique moment

“The work within an atelier contains, for me, the artistic dimension of live performances – a divide from everyday life in order to allow other experiences, emotions, tastes and above all, a critical, creative spirit to flourish.”
In these workshops the aim is to compose a choreographic object and/or to stimulate improvisation that will lead to an organic movement vocabulary centered around the senses rather than intellect.
We will explore the development of movement vocabulary through systems of structured games. We will use the imagination to help discover different corporeal states – the basic materials of contemporary dance. Then we will explore the multiple parameters that enter into constructing choreography.
In order to do this, at the beginning of the session we look for ways that reveal the possibilities of the body as a whole, by working on relaxation and stretching. Through exercises and structured games we encourage precision and quality of movement as well as awareness of the self and of others.
Next we play with other elements related to movement such as time, space, energy, the body and its relation to others, to the floor, to a surface, to sound etc.
The atelier will culminate in compositions and individual and collective improvisations that will unveil and bare witness to that ephemeral and unique instant — the live performance."


Marion Ballester
Since her education at CNDC in Angers, from 1987 to 1989, Marion Ballester leads, in parallel, a triple career as choreographer, performer and teacher. After having started her career as a dancer in 1989 with Dominique Petit, she was engaged by Phillipe Decouflé and later joined Rosas, both as performers, until she in 1992 left to study in New York at the Trisha Brown Studios. From then on she started elaborating her own choreographic research, founding her own company and creating her own work; "Blue Mathematics", then "Unconscious Landscape" (2000), project dance/sculpture/video for 4 dancers inspired by the work of Louise Bourgeois; "Intimez-moi" (2001); "Bord à Bord" (2002); and finally "Neptune" (2004) created in the frame of the Festival des Antipodes in Brest, a performance for five dancers on the music of Philippe Manoury.

She went on to become the assistant of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker for the creation of "Once", in 2002., than she is danced the trio "Desh" with the Flemish Choreographer and Salva Sanchis. Between 2007 and 2009 she worked on the triptych "Trois solis pour Marion" with three collaborators: Benoît Lachambre, Osman Kassen Khelili and Odile Duboc.
In 2010/2011, Raimund Hoghe engaged her for a new creation "Si je meurs, laissez le balcon ouvert".
In parallel Marion Ballester never ceases to deepen the pursuit of a practice of pedagogy, in the midst of different educational structures and professional dance companies: at CND-Paris, at P.A.R.T.S or the companies of Angelin Preljojac, Philippe Découflé and Jean-Claude Gallota.
Photo: Marion Ballester © Anne Norman