THE WORK

Wagner & Ligeti is a work that deals with music and its meaning. It analyses how the temporal structures, repetitions and interactions of orchestral music can express and communicate ideas; just as the organised noise of music evokes images and turns them into thoughts. The dancers guide the audience in an exploration of two pieces: the overture to Wagner’s Tannhäuser, one of the clearest fragments of narrative instrumental music in the Western canon, and  György Ligeti’s Lontano, which aims to disarm the very notion of musical hierarchy, presenting an arrangement for twelve-tone orchestra.

The confrontation of those apparently radically different fragments through dance reveals to us to what extent they are assembled and are really needed. This discovery brings us close to the chimerical processes through which the phenomena of sound and movement, which are neutral, are impregnated with meaning and become music and dance. The work was on the programme last December at the Mercat de les Flors.

THE FESTIVAL

The Seine-Saint-Denis International Choreographic Encounters is a reference point in the world of dance devoted to contemporary choreographic expressions. It presents works that bring a sharp, poetic gaze and constantly question our world. The origins of the festival go back to 1969 when Jaque Chaurand, a former dancer, created a choreographic competition for new dance, then called Les Ballets pour Demain, which was held at Bagnolet. That was the birth of the Bagnolet Competition. In 1988 the competition took on a new international dimension under the leadership of Lorrina Niclas, who at the time was director of what would later be called the CIBOC (the Bagnolet International Centre for Choreographic Works). In 1995, the competition was given its present name, Seine-Saint-Denis International Choreographic Encounters, and was held every two years at the MC93 Maison de la Culture de la Seine-Saint-Denis at Bobigny. In 2002, Anita Mathieu took over as director of the Encounters and turned the competition into a festival. Since 2003 it has been held every year.

THE CHOREOGRAPHER

Albert Quesada (Barcelona, 1982) trained at the PARTS school in Brussels (2004-2008) and the Amsterdam Higher School of the Arts (2003-2004), after studying Philosophy and Multimedia Engineering in Barcelona. While he was a student he organised weekly jams at the PARTS. He has also given courses and workshops in Belgium, Austria, India and the United States. He has performed with the ZOO – Thomas Hauert company (Accords, You’ve Changed, In Vivo Danse, Mono) since 2009 and has also worked with Benjamin Vandewalle.

Quesada combines his stage performances with videodance which, like his other works, have been shown internationally. In 2005, he started work on Solo on Bach & Glenn (2005-2008), a piece which has not ceased to grow since then, is still touring and gave rise to the duo Solos Bach & Gould (2010).

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Saturday 30 May at 21.00

Sunday 31 May at 18.30

La Commune Centre Dramatique National

2 rue Édouard Poisson, Aubervilliers

Price: €16; concession: €13