The Théâtre de la Ville: Paris’s temple to contemporary art
Every year, from the first Monday in July, before the box office is even open, a queue forms in front of the entrance to the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris: these are the aficionados of contemporary dance, anxious to be able to attend the performances of the coming season. They know that getting to see the most famous companies here without buying a season ticket several months in advance is nigh on impossible.
The impressive Haussmannian architecture of the Théâtre de la Ville has stood opposite the Théâtre du Châtelet, on the square of the same name in the centre of Paris, since 1862. Nevertheless, for 30 years this institution has hosted the most cutting-edge contemporary dance choreographers. It was back in 1968 that the theatre changed from its purely theatrical programme (losing its name as the Théâtre de la Ville-Sarah Bernhardt in the process) and began to proclaim its identity as a centre for choreography. Initially under the direction of Jean Mercure, then of Gérard Violette from 1985 onwards, dance began to play a major role in the programme. And so American choreographers such as Alwin Nikolais, Merce Cunningham, Carolyn Carlson and Trisha Brown brought to the theatre’s stage the free spirit of the “happenings” that were then common on the rooftops of New York buildings. Then, in the 1990s, a new “school” of French dance emerged, in which Philippe Decouflé, Jean-Claude Gallota and Régine Chopinot, among others, won over audiences spellbound by their offbeat humour, unstructured moves and creation of unusual images.
In the 1990s, the Théâtre de la Ville opened up to Europe and saw the arrival of Belgian, English and Dutch choreographers, and it discovered the influential dance-theatre work of German choreographer Pina Bausch. The Théâtre de la Ville owes much of its success to the work of the woman known in France as the “Dame de Wuppertal”, whose company established a special bond with the theatre over the years, offering it the exclusive first performance of her works and seizing on the tremendous technical possibilities of the stage, in an event that became highly influential over time. Pina Bausch’s style, with its unusual body movements, dreaminess and sexuality, the lightness of the everyday and the solemnity of reality, at first surprised and disconcerted and then won over an ever-wider audience.
The Théâtre de la Ville plays a special role in educating the public, stretching it to the limits by putting on avant-garde and sometimes provocative shows. People do not always feel at ease in this serious-looking venue. Uncomprehending or even shocked spectators have been known to boo performances or leave the auditorium. But often a very special magic occurs when, sitting in one of the 987 seats of the auditorium, everyone holds their breath, stunned by the appearance of the seven Japanese dancers of the Sankai Juku troupe, almost naked and made-up in white, performing their famous slow and sensuous butoh: the dance of darkness!
The decade of 2000-2010 confirmed the Théâtre de la Ville as a venue open to the artistic world. Today, choreographers from Australia such as Gary Stewart, from Vietnam (Ea Sola), from India (Akram Khan) and from Burkina Faso (Salia Ni Seydou) feel honoured to be invited here.
Benefiting from strong institutional backing for 30 years, the Théâtre de la Ville has achieved the feat of becoming Paris’s temple to dance, whilst holding on to the pioneering spirit of a genuine place of experimentation. As the current director, Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, says “just like Lavoisier discovering nitrogen and oxygen, the artist that we wish for can sometimes reveal a body hitherto unknown to us all”.
Kidi Bebey