MAGNIFICAT & HENRI MICHAUX: MOUVEMENTS

A particularly emotional evening is in store, both for Leipzig audiences and for Marie Chouinard herself. In her newest work, the world-renowned grande dame of Québec’s dance scene stages her company to Bach’s Magnificat, premiered in 1723 shortly after the Leipzig Thomaskantor took office. This first, aesthetically sumptuous part of the evening develops, in radiant images, an intimate relationship between Bach’s biblical song of praise and the human form. With almost paradisiacal joy, the ensemble evokes a rebirth of the Son of God, in the baroque, courtly spirit devoted entirely to beauty associated with the “Sun King” Louis XIV.
Chouinard’s flawless technique, originality and daring yet never provocative imagery also guide us through the second part, which reveals an entirely different world. HENRI MICHAUX: MOUVEMENTS is a company classic, a work that introduces us to the poet Michaux also as a visual artist. His 1951 volume “Mouvements” consists of a fifteen-page poem and hundreds of ink drawings, which Chouinard unfolds before us in a series of projections. Shaken by electronic music and Michaux’s nervous universe, the bodies seem to dissolve and transform into living calligraphy. A highly kinetic and moving evening, finally introduces Leipzig to one of the most influential choreographers of our time.