Ah here we go. Here's the artist's statement from the choreographer, emphasis mine:
The Dancing
For the dancing in this show we strove to keep as close as possible to what we know of choreographic practices under Francis I.
The scarcity of sources lead us to explore a variety of documents, form treatises on the subject to the eyewitness accounts of ambassadors of the time, not forgetting iconographic sources and descriptions of masquerades. We wished to bring out the multiplicity of court practices during that period, with the perpetuation of early repertoires, foreign influences, and the appearance of new fashions, new forms, new manners: moving towards what was to be known, much later, as the French style.
With the exception of just one dance taken from the repertoire and completely restored from information found in Renaissance treatises [they must mean Rostibulli] all the dances have been choreographed anew , using the steps, figures, and movements, but also the methods of composition and ornamentation of the Renaissance often based on geometrical or numerical relationships, and of course a fine concordance with the music. The various texts available and a wealth of untapped iconography revealed dancing that was much more inventive, virtuosic, dramatic, grotesque, or fanciful than we had imagined. We thus aimed to bring out the variety and complexity of those dances. In the different tableaux, we have explored a range of styles, from the most noble, measured, or subtle, to the most lively or demonstrative. Restoring the vitality of this "new" choreographic material finally encouraged us to restore its meaning and its spectacular dimensions too, and to go beyond a mere reconstruction of movements in order to bring to life the hearts and minds of that period.
AAAAAAAAAACH *spit*
That is some Mannschaft Pavane level bullshit.
P.S. I am beginning to suspect why is was and how it came that Ingrid Brainard was the irrascable terror she was.
They seem to be saying "all the dances have been choreographed anew" with pride rather than apology. It could be that they wanted to give the choreographer something to do, and felt that analyzing and synthesizing multiple conflicting musical and choreographic sources was insufficiently creative.
It also says, elsewhere in the notes, that the silk (!) for the costumes was sourced from a brocade company that has been in continuous business since the 16th century.
Perhaps this is me being partial, what with my fondness for Doulce Memoire, but it doesn't seem to me like this is a "they" here, but a "him". It looks to me like Denis et al are scrupulous reconstructors who do not do what the choreographer did, and would not have tolerated it if they understood - it sounds like he used points upward a heap of excuses as to why it was okay to get his Creative on and since they all sound plausible to non-dance-scholars, he got away with it.
I think Hazebroucq betrayed Doulce Memoire (and the BEMF), not that Doulce Memoire put him up to it. I think they delegated the job to him and trusted him not to do... exactly this. And he took advantage of their ignorance to supervise his work.
A pity, because he is a good dancer and has a brain. (I saw him at "Comic Italian dancing in the time of Handel and Rameau". Which referred to research he and Gloria Giordano had done, which he could speak about convincingly. I've known good dancers with less brain.) I wonder what would happen if you wrote to him.
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no subject
Date: 2019-06-19 04:58 am (UTC)That is some Mannschaft Pavane level bullshit.
P.S. I am beginning to suspect why is was and how it came that Ingrid Brainard was the irrascable terror she was.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-19 11:12 am (UTC)They seem to be saying "all the dances have been choreographed anew" with pride rather than apology. It could be that they wanted to give the choreographer something to do, and felt that analyzing and synthesizing multiple conflicting musical and choreographic sources was insufficiently creative.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-20 04:58 am (UTC)It also says, elsewhere in the notes, that the silk (!) for the costumes was sourced from a brocade company that has been in continuous business since the 16th century.
Perhaps this is me being partial, what with my fondness for Doulce Memoire, but it doesn't seem to me like this is a "they" here, but a "him". It looks to me like Denis et al are scrupulous reconstructors who do not do what the choreographer did, and would not have tolerated it if they understood - it sounds like he used points upward a heap of excuses as to why it was okay to get his Creative on and since they all sound plausible to non-dance-scholars, he got away with it.
I think Hazebroucq betrayed Doulce Memoire (and the BEMF), not that Doulce Memoire put him up to it. I think they delegated the job to him and trusted him not to do... exactly this. And he took advantage of their ignorance to supervise his work.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-21 11:50 pm (UTC)