SPOTLIGHT

Translated as "my own history of dance", La Dance, Une Histoire a Ma Facon is a solo performance by Beau Geste Company's Dominique Boivin. The work is an expression of his personal relationship to the great masters of dance with a humorous twist. Guru spoke with him ahead of his performance which is part of French-Thai cultural fest La Fete:

HOW DID YOU FIRST BECOME INTERESTED IN DANCE?

When I was 16, I was madly in love with life and being on stage. Before that I took dance classes without even being aware of being in contact with a sort of artistic expression. Finding myself suddenly in love with life and being able to articulate it through movement literally threw me in the role of the actor and the interpreter. It was at that moment I felt the force of this art and the possibilities of dance as a form of expression.

WHAT IS YOUR PERFORMANCE ABOUT?

The show is about the history of dance and how Western dance has evolved. It is a journey into the past in attempt to shed light on the present and perhaps the future because there is a desire to connect. Like all other art forms, dance cannot avoid time; there are trends, tendencies.

WHAT ASPECT OF HISTORY ARE YOU ATTEMPTING TO PRESENT?

The question is to identify the situation of dance in France and take a look at its evolution. My job is to answer this question and remain as integrated as possible, but not as an historian. Of course I hope that the public, after having seen this solo, will realise that dance, like any other mode of representation, evolves with the time.

IS DANCE UNIVERSAL?

One might think that dance does not need translation to the extent that it doesn't involve words. However, different cultures have their own readings of the body. Today the world is changing fast and information flows more easily, thanks to the internet. Thailand is a large country with a strong culture. With this solo, I am sharing with the public of Bangkok a way of re-examining history and also the dance.

Excerpt from:
Lord of the Dance