This year’s Montpellier Danse Festival had a strand of work from Tel Aviv (a selection from the annual International Exposure at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in December) and another strand of circus-based work.  In between there were large spectacles in the Corum such as the astounding Royal Ballet of Flanders performing William Forsythe’s Artifact, and smaller works at the new Cunningham Studio at L’Agora as well as at outlying theatres.

In a new programme development, Raimund Hoghe was invited to be the Associate Artist and was in residence throughout the two weeks of the Festival.  On six afternoons, he presented an “open door” in which he spoke with other artists (Franko B), showed DVD’s of artists who had been inspirational to him (Maya Plisetskaya, Kazuo Ohno, Pina Bausch) and artists with whom he works (Ornella Balestra, Lorenzo de Brabandere, Emmanuel Eggermont and Luca Giacomo Schulte).  A final performance, entitled Montpellier, 4 July 2011, was a sort of homage to the courtyard of L’Agora.  In the fading daylight, without any theatrical lighting, vignettes chosen from Hoghe’s repertoire unfolded in the shadows of the 14th century former convent.  It was truly breathtaking.

Bartabas, who in the 80’s performed an amazing work with a horse called Zingaro, created a new work with Butoh choreographer Ko Murobushi incorporating four horses that was extraordinary in its visual imagery and force.  The lighting, by Françoise Michel, who designed the lights for Sui Generis in this year’s Dublin Dance Festival, was central to the work.

A bit of unplanned excitement jarred the opening of Batsheva Dance Company’s performance of Project 5 by Ohad Naharin.  Two men dropped from the roof of the outdoor theatre at L’Agora onto one of the lighting catwalks and dropped pro-Palestinian leaflets onto the stage and into the audience.  The French audience engaged in some back-and-forth conversation with the protestors until DDF’s 2009 intern, Jean-François Chapon, saved the day (or night) by escorting them out (followed by security police).  The company showed remarkable aplomb in their performance of this episodic work which incorporates segments from five different pieces.

Other artists/companies I saw included Deborah Hay and Laurent Pichaud in a playful duet; Montpellerain Didier Théron; Israeli artists Emmanuel Gat (now based in France), Barak Marshall (Los Angeles-born and partially based there), Yuval Pick (now based in France), Oded Graf & Yossi Berg (partially based in Copenhagen) and Niv Sheinfeld & Oren Laor (based in Israel); juggler (with a lot of ice!) Phia Ménard and contortionist Angela Laurier.

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One afternoon, I attended a seminar entitled Une Politique Patrimoniale pour la Danse at which the six panelists (from the Dance programme of the Ministry of Culture and from the National Dance Centre) spoke about policy and programmes of support for the art form.  The most interesting thing for me was the numbers.

In 2010, a total of €109M was given to dance in the following categories:

Direct Aid

€68M including
€ 7M to artists including 250 choreographers and 40 incorporated companies
€15M to the 19 National Choreographic Centres
€42M to the Paris Opera Ballet
€ 4M to the regional Opera Ballet companies

€20M to the Maison de la Danse in Lyon, 70 National Theatres, 40 Platforms,
8 Choreographic Development Centres and an unspecified number Festivals for the presentation of work

€8M to the National Dance Centre in Paris

€13M to National Theatre of Chaillot, which has been designated as the centre for dance in Paris.

It is difficult to compare budgets as the population of France is 62.5 million, whereas Ireland is a country of 4.5 million and the funding bodies work very differently.  It is interesting to note, however, that the Arts Council had a total budget of just €68M in 2010. But while we might dream about working with generous funding like this, we shouldn’t forget about what we’ve achieved with much less!

“I had the great fortune of being presented with one of three “Access All Areas” passes, gaining entry to every Dublin Dance Festival performance, workshop and lecture. I’ve never won so as much as a romantic dinner for two at Burdock’s chipper so you can imagine my surprise.

With this pass I was able to attend performances otherwise sold out or difficult to get into, and could therefore see nearly everything in the diverse, colourful, exciting programme of 2011.

My two crème de la crème highlights included:

Cédric Andrieux in his solo performance choreographed by Jérôme Bel, particularly his sardonic love for his tie-dyed pink unitard and the choreographed clatter of the performer falling from the fly towers of the Grand Canal Theatre into a heap of golden rice. (I do know he didn’t actually fall from the heavens…) Cloud Gate was a stunningly beautiful spectacle made all the more beautiful by the largest audience to ever attend a contemporary dance performance in Ireland.

Thank you to all who made “Access all Areas” possible and to the entire DDF team for another superb year. Chip supper is on me.”

“May in Dublin means Dance Festival.

What is a festival? maybe something like: a period of time set aside for feasting and celebration.

If I had to give someone going to a festival any advice I would say: see as much as you can, meet as many people as you can, talk as much as you can, dance as much as you can.  (After all this, maybe drink as much as you can, but this is another story…)

Another question: what is a dancer? maybe something like: someone who likes to participate, someone who likes to ‘ access all areas’.

However, we dancers with stretchy legs but rigid pockets, can’t afford the ‘as much as you can’ festival philosophy most of the time….
…but then came the Fund it present: an ‘Access all Areas’ package!

What can I say? Thank you Thank you Thank you to all generous and caring donors!

This year at DDF I have been pleasurably overwhelmed by art, visions, actions, faces, thoughts.

I have been a dancer, performer, workshop attender, audience member, passer-by and visitor.

The eastern wind has taken my heart and thoughts on an imaginative journey. The performance of Eiko and Koma and meeting them at their workshop were particularly inspiring and opened new routes for me to oniric fields for my practice.

Many thanks again and I am looking forward to returning the gift and becoming a donor next time at DDF 2012!”

“One day, in the middle of rehearsals I received an unexpected phone call to let me know that I would receive a free “Access all Areas” pass to Dublin Dance Festival, thanks to the Festival’s Fund it campaign. As an independent artist I would not have been able to afford tickets to many of the performances myself and a tough selection process was already going on in my mind. What to see and what to skip? Take a chance on something risky or invest safely in performances I knew I would like? I am so glad I got this opportunity to see all of the pieces during the festival, especially since it turned out that some of my favourite performances were not on my original priority list.

There was one performance  in particular at Project Arts Centre, by Javanese dancer Mugiyono Kasido, that really touched me. Rooted in Javanese traditional dance, he is one of the most highly skilled performers I have ever seen, with a body control to die for. Even though my cultural and artistic background is very different I was surprised by how easily I could receive and connect to his work, and even recognise many of my own particular interests and ideas in it. I did not expect that I, a Swedish-born, Irish-based contemporary dancer and choreographer would meet at Dublin Dance Festival a man from the other side of our planet and see him embody and master so many of my own artistic visions. To me this was a reminder that dance truly is a universal art form and has the power to connect people from different cultures and circumstances. I wish to stay in touch with Mr Kasido as I think he would be able to teach me many things. Hopefully another opportunity to meet him will present itself in the not too distant future.”

Audience members share their thoughts.

DDF Board member, Helen Meany congratulates the artists and performers.

Fearghus Ó Conchúir thanks all those involved in the creation of Tabernacle.

Guests enjoying the reception at The Circle Club

L to R: DDF Chair, Dermot McLaughlin; DDF Director, Laurie Uprichard and Artistic Director of Cloud Gate, Mr. Lin Hwai-min (looking surprised by the flowers!)

Mr. Lin Hwai-min with Dr. Harry Tseng, the Taipei Representative in Ireland

Mr. Lin Hwai-min and Dr. Harry Tseng with guests of the Taipei Representative Office.

All photos by Dave Soanes

Harry Tseng, Taipei Representative Office in Ireland and Laurie Uprichard, DDF

All photos by Studio Antanas Burokas.

Balbir Singh Dance Company, L – R: Bigg Taj, Ezekiel Oliveira, Sooraj Subramaniam, Balbir Singh, John Ball

Laurie Uprichard and John Scott toast to Emmanuelle Vo Dinh

L – R: Cindy Cummings, Robert Jackson, Solenne Racapé of Compagnie Sui Generis and Bernard Schmidt

All photos by Studio Antanas Burokas

All photos by Dave Soanes