Articles
“Dance is somehow such a manly thing to do” Jean-Guillaume Weis
men, there was real camaraderie, it was fun. Men together are strong, even though there was a lot of teas ing each other there was also rigour and discipline and motivating each other to work. Dance is somehow such a manly thing to do. Prejudice does still exist even though most people nowadays know that boys dance, that dance needs them.” Jean-Guillaume was delighted at the way everyone really opened up and threw themselves into their work, took risks to show themselves in a new light. “And I trusted them, I think after all these years of experience I trust myself more and that allows me to be more effective as a choreographer.” That experience he talks about so passionately includes a four-year spell with the Mark Morris Dance Group in both Brussels and New York City (begun when Jean-Guillaume was just 19 years old) and later three years with the Pina Bausch Tanztheater in Wuppertal. He is still highly impressed by the way Bausch’s company worked during rehearsal, likening it to an actual performance. “The rehearsals were stunning. I wanted to find that level, to have the intimacy of rehear sals and then find the performance.” Morris and Bausch had radically opposite ways of working, and although Jean-Guillaume eagerly sings the praises of the innovative German choreographer (who died in 2009), he also has plenty of positives to say about Morris. “I learned a lot from him about musicality that I still use. And even though his aesthetics were different, he still cared a lot for the craft itself – the way you accomplish dance, learning how to use your body properly and giving it the precise shape. That continued with Pina, in a totally different dance style. But they both had this oldfash ioned sense of work, work, work to get it right.” Männertanz involves a lot of dance but also theatre and live music on stage. Indeed, JeanGuillaume is passionate about music and has a penchant for hav-
ing musicians performing live on stage during his pieces – he uses a full-blown live band for Drums and Dance/Rituals – and he is always seeking out new music. His ambition now is to create his own company with a troupe of permanent dancers and administrative staff. That would make producing work much easier, allowing him to take a work in tour or to play a specific piece from its repertoire, rather than having to hire dancers and assistants for several weeks before each performance. “The goal of the com pany would be to have a repertoire and be able to perform it any place any time: and to be seen. Because if I go to perform in Germany, for example, the chances are I can moti vate some people to come and see the work – people that wouldn’t necessarily come to Luxembourg.” He believes such a company could have a huge positive impact on the dance scene in Luxembourg, generating work and allowing newcomers to create within the framework of the company. Meanwhile, this autumn JeanGuillaume will take up another residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City, where he will develop a new solo work. He first landed there in 2009 while on a visit to the Big Apple by simply knocking on the door and asking for a studio space and ended up taking a residency as part of the APAP (Association of Performing Arts Presenters) showcases. And, having just completed a second season of workshops in Frankfurt he is also likely to be returning to Germany on a regular basis. He would also love to return to Tokyo, where he was resident at the Luxembourg embassy in 2010, to work with a dancer and a DJ. “I love developing work together with others, and this would be a new sort of performance event.” Always looking for new challenges and travelling to meet new people, even if his body may get tired Jean-Guillaume’s mind is always working in exciting ways. FLYDOSCOPE
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09/07/12 15:45