May B

“May B” – a legend, an event. The piece already had its world première in 1981; it is France’s most performed dance piece. It is an absolute classic of modernity, which is even today being shown throughout the world. “May B” has written dance history with 772 performances in 48 countries so far. The piece founded the world fame of Maguy Marin, France’s grande dame of contemporary dance. In 1999, euro-scene Leipzig presented “May B” for the first time, back then in a combination with the quintet “Quoi qu’il en soit” (“Be that as it may”, 1999).

Waiting – no one has represented this on stage as well as the Irish author Samuel Beckett (1906-89), who is most famous for his piece “En attendant Godot” (“Waiting for Godot”, Paris 1953). Maguy Marin translates Beckett’s existentialism into movement, waiting into emptiness, hesitation, hope and the short and usually futile consolation of communities. A group of lonely souls, an odd panopticon of dusty old and homeless men, drags itself into nowhere, constantly hoping for a goal of its endless travels. In all of the absurdity of their existence, a weightless serenity lies over these archetypical characters.

Maguy Marin was born in Toulouse in 1951. She received her education at Maurice Béjart’s Mudra School in Brussels from 1970 and was a dancer in his world famous “Ballet du XXe siècle”. In 1981, she founded her own company in France and directed the Centres chorégraphiques nationaux in Créteil from 1985 and from 1998 in Rillieux-la-Pape near Lyon. Since 2015, she has been working at the RAMDAM art centre in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon. She has created around 50 pieces since 1976. In 2016, she received the Golden Lion for her life’s work at the Dance Biennale in Venice.