Pau: dance and music, life on stage

For the three performances at the end of the year, Sabaline Fournier chose to combine dance and live music under the title “In unison”. A project as always demanding and ambitious, but she is used to it: “This is my eighteenth show, seventeen of which at the Palais Beaumont…

The dates are enough to make the choreographer and performer dizzy, who is upping the ante again with three performances on June 13 and 14. “There is no choice,” she explains. She refuses to limit the number of places, and wants to give everyone – parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents – the opportunity to attend the show. “Three performances are necessary to be sure to welcome everyone…”

“Real listening”

A marathon for the 200 dancers from its workshops who participate in both parts, and a challenge for Sabaline Fournier, who will remain behind the curtain, in liaison with the management and a team of loyal and experienced volunteers, busy at the ticket office, at the reception, at the security of the children… “After eighteen years, we know how to make the show work!” smiles the teacher, who places this gala in the line of pro and semi-pro shows that she has crafted as a choreographer and performer. It is a story of a link which will be written in “In Unison”, this link “which unites dance and music, which links me to my dancers, to the musicians” and which will find its expression through dance, in “an image of choir, of chain”.

« Artiste coup de cœur »

Jazz, classical and contemporary dance will mingle with live music and translate the importance of being together: generations, artists, dancers… The theme will run through the twenty-four scenes and resonate through the live music, which gives a more lively and also more fragile soul: ” You have to really listen, you have to be in, on, with the music… It doesn’t resonate in the same way as recorded music,” hence the title, she insists.

Sabaline Fournier invited five musicians on stage, each performing in one of the three choreographic disciplines: jazz, classical, contemporary. On stage, Ode Aseguinolaza, author, composer, performer and accomplice of her creations, will be on the piano and arrangements, on piano four hands, performed with one of the dancers also a student at the conservatory. Accordionist Alexandre Prusse will also be there, as will guitarists Sébastien Cabos and Pierre Casedevant, Django Reinhardt fans who have the gypsy repertoire in their fingers. The fifth element is Pete Lambrou, from the duo Alma, “a favorite artist” from London who juggles with the sounds of guitars, keyboards, a computer… for soft and sensitive music. “He will compose new electro pieces, it’s his directory”.

Between dance and concert

The music of the gala will surprise: Philip Glass, “La Foule” by Edith Piaf revisited on accordion and guitar, Mozart, Rameau, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Django Reinhard, Schubert, electro music, Franck Angelis, acclaimed by the accordionists… The musicians will be associated according to the pieces, and brought together for the finale with Libertango.

“We are somewhere between a dance show and a concert,” with “a variety of genres and styles to satisfy everyone and all tastes,” describes Sabaline Fournier. No piece will be recorded, musical transitions have been designed “like a passing of the baton”, and five student dancers and also musicians at the Pau conservatory will participate on the music side: violinist, pianist, flautist and two guitarists and singers who were given carte blanche and will cover “I say Aime” by M.

“It’s a big bet, a big challenge”, and a lot of technical work to link the arts and artists together: “Musicians and dancers will listen to each other, that also contributes to this idea of ​​connection.” He will express himself everywhere and at any time. At the end of the show, two videos produced by Haelle will be its symbol. They will celebrate kindness, the bond, and will remind us that we go through time and life together. Like every year, this gala will be a story of the heart…