Blé noir Thierry Malandain


Blé Noir is a pas de deux in the form of a story. A lie; mischief that’s pure fiction. The story of a girl to be married who rather than follow her suitors to the wedding, leads them to the cemetery.

Thierry Malandain    


Performed on 21 December 1995

at l’Esplanade de Saint-Etienne

 

Music traditional Breton music

Choreography and costumes Thierry Malandain

Set props and design Sean Wood

Lighting design Oswald Roose

 

Full length of the performance 15 minutes

Ballet for 2 dancers

 

Dancers Valérie Hivonnait and Isaïas Jaurégui

 

Video by Georges Flores 

 



“The lively and dynamic movements in Blé Noir were performed brilliantly and expressively by the two young protagonists who demonstrated complicity and convincing clarity in their movements. This distinctive choreography, built on Breton popular music, was paired with a splendid stage design of old dance halls, illustrating a multitude of contradictory situations between the participants, using a simple, understandable, and witty tone for this purpose... The young dancers from the Ballet Biarritz Junior troupe performed impeccably here, demonstrating, beyond technical mastery, clear and open expressiveness. And by happily playing their amusing characters, they entertained the audience with their meticulous lines, but moreover with their performance full of carefree audacity...”

El Diario Vasco, Ana Remiro, May 2007

“Thierry Malandain’s Centre Chorégraphique National (National Choreography Centre) opened the ball with a short, delightful play called Blé noir. […] Without uttering a single word, this dance performance tells the story with movement, the story of a young girl to be married, who rather than going to her wedding, leads her suitors to their grave by making them eat… crepes! This very original playlet immerses the audience in a very strange world, suspended between tradition and modern times. […] The cheerful tone of this short play, a wee bit diabolical, performed by talented dancer-actors, literally captivated the Pont-l’Abbé audience.”

Le Télégramme, 17 January 2010