The largest dance festival Biennale de la danse starts in Lyon

On September 9, the largest dance festival starts in Lyon – the Biennale de la danse (Biennale of Dance), which this year has a new art director – the Portuguese Thiago Guedes. Talks about the history and innovations of the main dance festival in France Tatiana Kuznetsova.

The Lyon Biennale de la danse is a unique phenomenon. This largest (after Avignon) festival in France owes its existence to a private initiative and in the 39 years of its existence this is only the second time it has changed its artistic director. The founder of the biennale, Guy Darmé, a passionate lover of the art of dance and a brilliant organizer, held the first festival in 1984, convincing the municipality of Lyon and the leaders of the Rhône-Alpes region of its urgent need. In addition to the festival, he “knocked out” the House of Dance (an impressive theater that became a rental platform for many touring performers and a base for local professionals and amateurs) from the authorities, heading it too. Since then, these positions have been inseparable – at the House of Dance, the art director of the Biennale energetically supports the Lyon dance life between the two festivals.

From its very birth, the Lyon Biennale was distinguished by democracy and artistic omnivorousness. Guided by the principle of “entertaining, instructing,” Guy Darme did not limit himself to modern dance; he welcomed jazz, modern, and folklore—in short, everything except the classics. He devoted his early biennales to the history of dance – from German expressionism to American modernism; then he took up geography (Spain, Africa, Latin America, the Great Silk Road). Fascinated by the Brazilian carnival, Guy Darme organized his own street procession – since 1996, a costumed thematic fashion show of many thousands, attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators, has become the main feature of the biennale. After holding 14 festivals, the founder retired with a sense of accomplishment.

His successor, choreographer Dominique Hervieu, a prominent figure in the first “new wave” of French dance, tried to give the festival an intellectual tone, marrying dance with literature and crowning their union with a socio-political agenda. However, having taken into account the requests of spectators who were not accustomed to dance citizenship, for her third biennale she found a balance between “scholarly dance and public dance” (as the motto of that festival sounded). Since then, world-famous authors and famous performances have again appeared in the programs, and entertainment has ceased to be considered a dirty word. The pandemic changed the years of the Biennale, moving them from even to odd, and at the same time spurred the career of an art director: Dominique Hervieu received an invitation to lead Parisian cultural life.

The third artistic director of the Lyon Biennale was chosen through a competition: six projects were presented to the jury, including the main Lyon choreographer Mourad Merzouki, who cultivated hip-hop and founded the Kafig troupe. However, the unanimous victory was won by 51-year-old Portuguese Thiago Guedes, head of the Municipal Theater of Porto, who founded his own festival in this non-dancing city called “Days of Dance”. In May of this year, Mr. Guedes was officially introduced as director of the House of Dance and co-director of the 20th Lyon Biennale (which is natural: most of the program of the anniversary festival was formed by Dominique Hervieu), but after this biennale he will become the sole director.

Pandemic stress removed the main pride of the Biennale – the catwalk – from the streets. This year it returned in all its glory – with four thousand voluntary participants, divided into 12 groups (the teams prepared their show for more than a year, each had its own choreographer, set designer, artist, composer). The traditional thematic theme of the Lyon Biennale is now abolished. However, the fashion show is an exception: the procession was staged with an eye on the upcoming Paris Olympics, so next Sunday the long Rue de la République will become a giant podium to demonstrate the union of dance and sports.

The festival program, prepared by the co-directors, includes 21 premieres – world or French; In total, 139 performances from 36 companies are promised. However, some troupes consist of one person, and many performances will be held on the streets and squares of the city for free. Tiago Guedes, a staunch opponent of the elitism of dance, dreams of turning spectators into accomplices, and performances into parties aimed mainly at young people. Through his efforts, a new festival site will open on the outskirts of the city in the former Fagor plant. The press center will move there from the bourgeois luxury of the Exchange building. It will also host exhibitions, a video club and the most radical performances, after which, according to the co-director, spectators will be able to “drink, talk about the show, eat… and dance.” But award-winning companies like the Wuppertal Tanztheater, the former troupe of Pina Bausch, now headed by the Frenchman Boris Charmatz, will also perform there.

Co-director Dominique Hervieu compiled her part of the program from proven authors with big names. The famous Peeping Tom will come to Lyon with the world premiere of “S 62°58′, W 60°39’”; the Rosas company of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, a leading intellectual of contemporary dance; led by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, the Grand Ballet of Geneva with the French premiere of his new production “Ukiyo-e”. And tomorrow, at the opening of the Biennale, the Lyon Opera Ballet will present not only the world premiere, but also a new choreographer: the production “Mycelium” by the Peloponnesian Greek Christos Papadopoulos about the invisible threads that connect the whole world together like the vegetative body of mushrooms.