ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – The ninth annual Bard SummerScape festival opens on Friday, July 6 at 8pm, with the American premiere of Let My Joy Remain (“Que ma joie demeure”) by France’s Compagnie fêtes galantes. Described as “a show where joy dominates but dignity remains” (Figaro), Let My Joy Remain brings a contemporary edge to Baroque dance, juxtaposing the surpassingly elegant choreography of Béatrice Massin with the sublime music of Baroque master J.S. Bach. Along with two additional performances, on Saturday, July 7 at 8pm and Sunday, July 8 at 3 pm, the opening night will take place in the Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts on Bard College’s stunning Hudson River campus.
As in previous seasons, SummerScape 2012 is keyed to the theme of the Bard Music Festival, which this year celebrates “Camille Saint-Saëns and His World.” Like the great French composer, Compagnie fêtes galantes combines Gallic refinement with a sincere engagement with the Baroque, being founded almost 20 years ago by revered choreographer and Baroque specialist Béatrice Massin. It was through her collaboration with pioneering dance historian Francine Lancelot at the Ris & Danceries company that Massin first developed her great love affair with Baroque dance. Yet despite her command of the genre, Massin’s works are not strict historical reconstructions. Rather, they seek to create links between Baroque gesture and contemporary choreography, suffusing the vocabulary of 17th– and 18th-century dance with a thoroughly modern sensibility.
Now Compagnie fêtes galantes launches SummerScape 2012 with one of Massin’s most successful creations: Let My Joy Remain (2002), with which the company has already toured France, Belgium, Italy, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, South Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia, the dance proving “a hit wherever it goes” (Le Monde). As Massin explains, she was drawn to Baroque dance by the “movement, energy, and vitality” of the period’s music, and she describes Let My Joy Remain as “a dialogue of pleasure between music and dance.” Set to the timeless sounds of J.S. Bach, the complex architecture of its choreography reflects the unequaled intricacy and cohesion of his musical construction, as heard in excerpts from the Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 2, 3, and 6, performed by Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, and from Jesu, der du meine Seele, Cantata BWV78, recorded by Philippe Herreweghe and La Chapelle Royale.
Dance at Bard SummerScape 2012
Compagnie fêtes galantes
Que ma joie demeure (“Let My Joy Remain,” 2002)
Choreographer: Béatrice Massin
Music: J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 2, 3, & 6 (Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra / Ton Koopman)
J.S. Bach: “Wir eilen” (duo) from Cantata BWV78 (Jesu, der du meine Seele)
(La Chapelle Royale / Philippe Herreweghe)
Dancers: Céline Angibaud, Bruno Benne, Sarah Berreby, David Berring, Laura Brembilla, Olivier
Collin, Laurent Crespon, Damien Dreux, Adeline Lerme, and Gudrun Skamletz
Lighting design: Rémi Nicolas
Costume design: Dominique Fabrègue
Costume design assistance: Laurence Alquier and Camille Hardy
Technical management: Evelyne Rubert
July 6 and 7 at 8 pm
July 8 at 3 pm
Sosnoff Theater
Tickets: $25, $40, $45, $55
SummerScape 2012: other key performance dates by genre
MUSIC
Bard Music Festival, Weekend One: “Saint-Saëns and His World: Paris and the Culture of Cosmopolitanism” (August 10–12)
Bard Music Festival, Weekend Two: “Saint-Saëns and His World: Confronting Modernism” (August 17–19)
OPERA
Emmanuel Chabrier: The King in Spite of Himself
Sosnoff Theater
July 27 and August 3 at 7 p.m.
July 29 and August 1 and 5 at 3 p.m.
Tickets: $30, $60, $70, $90
Bard SummerScape Ticket Information
For tickets and further information on all SummerScape events, call the Fisher Center box office at 845-758-7900 or visit www.fishercenter.bard.edu.
