In the second program presented by Ballet de Lorraine at the Oriente Occidente Festival, the common thread is certainly not thematic, but rather historical and chronological. From the origins of modern dance with L’Après-Midi d’un Faune, a revolutionary choreography by Nijinsky in 1912 for Diaghilew's Ballets Russes, we move to the mid-20th century with Limón's La Pavane du Maure, arriving at the post-modern flavors of Merce Cunningham. L’Après-Midi d’un Faune (The Afternoon of a Faun) caused a scandal at the time of its first performance at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris due to the erotic and sensual content of the libretto (from the eclogue by Stéphane Mallarmé) and its innovative choreographic conception. Inspired by Hellenic bas-reliefs, Nijinsky devised a choreography played almost exclusively in profile, featuring lateral movements and sharp lines. History, as often happens, has disproved the Parisian audience, assigning this work, which must be seen, the key to modernity.
La Pavane du Maure (The Moor's Pavane) by José Limón, one of the masterpieces of modern dance, was created in New York in 1949. It is a ballet of enviable dramatic synthesis for four performers. A pas de quatre, indeed, set to the music of Henry Purcell and only loosely inspired by Shakespeare's Othello, as the original subtitle (Variations on the theme of Othello) recalls. In the form of a pavane and other 17th-century court dances, Limón's choreography tells the story of the unfortunate Moor, his wife, and the treacherous friends. Four temperaments describe the tragedy of man and the drama of jealousy, embodying, in the beautiful finale, the calming of spirits in the face of the inevitable.
Finally, the 1960s-1980s feature the abstract dance of the American post-modern master, characterized by chance and liberated energies in space, conceived without any centrality or focal point. Thus, the six couples in Duets (1980) launch into space, sometimes performing a genuine pas de deux, sometimes proceeding independently, as independent as the music by his art and life partner John Cage (Improvisation No. 3) is from the dance. To the music of Conlon Nancarrow (Rhythm Studies Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 6), the other piece presented, Crises (1960), is centered on the theme of contact for six dancers. Four women and two men embark on the adventure of being together, touching each other with hands or through objects (elastic bands tied to wrists, arms, and legs), allowing themselves the experience of 'meeting by chance'.
