There were many nights, many mornings, then one day the first man was born a dancer. Alone, he would spin, with his arms extended towards no one else, then he was given the first woman as a partner. Dancing together was nicer, but he soon wished to create new movements. To answer it, they invited other creatures to join them. This is the way humanity multiplied. The time passing, they qualified the dance of baroque, romantic and classic. Until the moment when the temptation of a more liberated dance blew in the veils of a enchanting alma. As she turned into a flower, a butterfly, a flame or a storm, Loïe Fuller fascinated them with her “Serpentine Dance”. Joining her, other artists from the New World brought about new aspirations : later, there was Doris Humphrey, for whom “falling and starting again” were the very essence of movement. A new horizon lay ahead of Ballet. Adam and Eve went towards it, leaving Paradise behind. On their way, they learned that they would, from then on, dance by the sweat of their brow and that pain would be part of the creation of new steps. That is when Cain pounced on Abel…

Thierry Malandain