Mouvement / Iberia

"For a contemporary dancer, working with a symphonic orchestra is not a common occurrence. I had this opportunity however, and the experience was consistently rich with mutual discoveries that I had not imagined. When the idea of an evening of dance steeped in Debussy’s music was conceived, I knew I couldn’t resist the urge to relive this experience. And with the conductor’s complicity, I would also mastermind an encounter between a dance performance and an orchestra. It’s true that Debussy’s music is incredibly mobile, especially in his orchestral pages. And this mobility clearly provides an exciting common ground for artists, dancers and musicians who, at least initially, do not have the same conception of movement, of “movements.”

The music we selected was the orchestral work, Iberia, and the solo for flute, Syrinx. If it’s the notion of landscape that prevails in my taste for Debussy’s music, for the equilibrium of this evening dedicated to him, it seemed necessary to propose something other than impressionist works. The orchestral character and strength in Iberia, and the clear structural differences between it and Jeux were the factors that guided my choice.”

Michel Kelemenis