The 3rd edition of the Villeneuve en danse festival will be held from June 11 to 13 at the Théâtre de Verdure de la Colline des Mourgues, in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. A contemporary dance festival which has found its audience, and which is gaining momentum.
It is the latest festival supported by the Villeneuve Municipal Authority, after the Polar Festival and Villeneuve on Stage, but also the first of the season. In a magical place, the green theater of the Mourgues hill, imagined in its time by Guy Devaux, “A space that we want to bring to life”asks Mayor Pascale Bories.
So after a trial with a show outside the walls of the Opéra Grand Avignon, a transformed trial, the town hall decided to launch this festival, “Little by little, we worked on the scenography, welcomed more and more spectators, and each time we were full”underlines the mayor. Last year, 900 spectators came. The festival has renewed its partnerships, with the Opéra Grand Avignon and the Maison Danse CDCN d’Uzès, but also with the DRAC, the Region, the Department and Grand Avignon, « un signal fort »estimates Pascale Bories, for this articulated festival “around the triptych of body, nature, heritage, which challenges and seduces the dancers and the public alikeâ€she adds.
A festival which does not hesitate to program shows for some not initially designed to play outdoors. “Here there are firsts, companies are breaking away from their usual way of workingexplains Culture Assistant Savine Demarquette-Marchat. This festival is a field of experimentation.”
The three evenings
In terms of programming, the festival will offer three evenings, the first on Thursday June 11 in partnership with La Maison danse. Two shows for this evening, with “Plier”, by Virgile Dagneaux, a solo on the body, on the passing of time and which leaves traces on it. Intimate but funny, Virgile Dagneaux goes from tap dancing to urban dance, and doesn’t hesitate to fall. In the second part, it’s time for Jann Gallois, multi-awarded international choreographer, and her show “In Situ”, which promises to blur the boundaries between dancers and spectators, in a piece without beginning or end whose objective can be summed up in two words: dancing together.
On Friday, Pierre Rigal and the Derniere minute company will offer “R.ONDE.S”, on the ancestral ritual of the round, which crosses all civilizations, all eras, a rite which borders on trance and gradually makes the boundaries between experienced dancers and others disappear. A magical show, sometimes acrobatic, in which everyone can participate: workshops will be offered by a dancer from the company from June 9 to 11 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., all levels, free upon registration (c-kuczynski@villeneuvelezavignon.com).
Finally, on Saturday June 13, the choreographer and director of the Grand Avignon Opera Ballet Martin Harriague will perform “Awen, the sacred veil”. “A piece for 13 dancers, based on music by the American composer Eric Whitacre, inspired by a true storyâ€explains the choreographer. The story of Julie, who died of cancer, and the love her companion, Tony, had for her, set to music from poems by the deceased and her companion on the love they had for each other. “It’s a universal story, that of the loss of a loved one to cancer.”résume Martin Harriague.
Around the festival
Alongside these three evenings, the organizers are offering a program around the festival, which began with a meeting on April 30 around the Grand Avignon Opera Ballet and “Awen, the sacred veil”. Last Thursday, Villeneuve choreographer Tamara Fernando offered dance workshops in the Marcel-Audié and La Samaritaine autonomy residences. There remain, in addition to the “R.ONDE.S” dance workshops, two events: on Thursday, June 4, an open-air public performance of the “Urban Dance Intervention Group (GUID)” of the Ballet Preljocaj at 2 p.m. on the esplanade of the Tourist Office on Place Charles-David, and on Saturday, June 6, a open-air public performance of “Kidsjoy” by the Grand Avignon Opera Ballet at 11:30 a.m., also on the Tourist Office esplanade.
L’idée est de “To create the public’s desire and appetite for dance, to show that dance does not only belong to professionals and to an informed public.”underlines Savine Demarquette-Marchat.
The ticket office opened this Tuesday, May 26.
