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Let my joy remain is a huge success everywhere it goes (…) It’s light, sparkling, full of soft bubbles that are about to burst at any time.
Le Monde , Rosita Boisseau
Béatrice Massin and the passion for baroque dance
After dancing in several contemporary dance companies, Béatrice Massin meets the pioneer in the revival of French baroque dance, Francine Lancelot (dancer, choreographer and dance historian), in 1983 and joins her dance company, Ris & Danceries. Baroque language appropriation immediately starts for her after this encounter, Massin being determined by the desire to always compose on the music of the baroque period which is movement, energy and vitality.
She is successively dancer, Lancelot’s assistant (the unforgettable ‘Atys’, 1986), choreographer, before creating her own dance company in 1993, Fêtes galantes. From then on, she surrounds herself with a collaborative staff for her creations while associating them to her researches.
“Let my joy remain: ‘See the music, hear the dance.”
Bangkok Post, Bancha Suvannanonda
“If the Company Fêtes Galantes was a choreographic orchestra….
A red floor, sparkling, designed to become, under the dancers’ feet, a musical instrument that reveals “glissades”, “tombés”, all kind of “frottés” specific to baroque dance. Sober costumes allowing the bodies to be seen, a set of hot and luminous colours, playing on harmony, subtle nuances specific to each interpreter. It is a necessary wink to create complicity with the baroque world.
J.S. Bach’s music then slides into this great choreographic structure designed to welcome it and benefit from its dynamic attitude and plenitude. The music therefore comes as a contrast or an extension of the climates created by the dance.
Dance is complement, an extension of music. There are moments when only sound from the dancers’ steps follows the movements. It allows the moment when the silent dance melts into the music to be appreciated. It is a dialogue of pleasure between music and dance, the essential movement with music and the musical quality of dance.”
Béatrice Massin
Béatrice Massins’ creation is first of all a jewel of written choreography showing us that baroque dancing is a style that can be interpreted in many ways, even in the most contemporary one. We must admit that it has been a while since we last enjoyed looking at dance and music so harmoniously linked together.
Danser, Agnès Izrine, 2003
Today, Béatrice Massin interferes as a specialist and reference in baroque dance. She has regularly been commissioned, as for an example she choreographed the whole movie based on the passion of Louis 14th for dance: ‘The King dances’, a Gérard Corbiau movie (1999). She can evoke for hours with passion the Sun King period: ‘Dance is the expression of the King’s power, this one being himself an awesome dancer.’ Massin trains a new generation of dancers and choreographers within the framework of l’Atelier baroque, created in 2003.
Le Monde , Rosita Boisseau
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