JEUX - Three Studies for Seven Small Landscapes

Jeux – Three Studies for Seven Small Landscapes is a piece which looks to give a second life and form to fragments and traces of the mory of Jeux, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinksy and first performed on 15th May 1913 by the Ballet Russes at the Théatre des Champs-Elysées. In order to choreograph the dance, Nijinsky looked for the movements of a resolutely modern man, both in tennis, but also in the erotic part of a three-way flirtation. 

This piece concludes Dominique Brun’s series of dances dedicated to: Afternoon of a Faun (2007), Sacre #197 (2012), Sacre #2 (2014), Jeux – Trois études pour sept petits paysages aveulges.

These first three studies take their inspiration from objects – a memory which accompanied the dance of the time: seven pastel drawings by Valentine Gross-Hugo (1887-1968), music by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and notes by Nijinsky. The notions behind the title ‘Jeux’ are also in play here when understanding the piece: freedom, rule and invention.

The central study invites us to examine the details, the refinement of the seven pastels, and the subtlety of the musical composition; it follows the footsteps of Nijinsky’s choreographic composition. The two others are distanced variations which nevertheless are still attached to historical study. The first turns to a body that has become matter, and the last to the movements and affects of his memory.