CCN - Ballet de Lorraine

This show is presented with the Festival d’Automne à Paris for the Merce Cunningham feature and the Théâtre de la Ville as part of their “offsite” programming

Merce Cunningham ! The CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, a demanding and adventurous company, brings into focus two pieces by the American choreographer – Fabrications and Sounddance – and For Four Walls by the duo of Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley.

Some works by Merce Cunningham have been rarely performed or lost. Four Walls, which was created in 1944- is one of those. Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley, a firebrand duo helming the CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, decided to revisit it. “We don’t see For Four Walls like a reenactment of the original lost piece but rather like a refraction connected to its history and our history with Merce.” Pianist Vanessa Wagner is the perfect companion to play Cage. With twenty-four dancers on stage, the show is full of alluring promise. Similarly, the CCN-Ballet de Lorraine performs Fabrications, a piece where Merce Cunningham utilizes chance, a random process based on sixty-four phrases. The result is a richly inventive ballet set to the score of Brazilian composer Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta. Sounddance is a fast and furious piece of organized chaos. Jumps seemingly suspended in space, fast-paced tempos and the raw energy of the dancers make it a freedom anthem that should not be missed. Philippe Noisette