Résonances Chopin

There is a wide variety of ballet works and choreographies set to Frédéric Chopin’s compositions. The intimate character of his piano compositions and their poetry continue to serve as a source of inspiration for choreographers. Urban salon circles played an important role in shaping Chopin’s compositional style. He was active in the Warsaw and later the Paris dance scene both as a musician and as a dancer. In addition to his musical training at the Warsaw Conservatory, he learned through salon music to improvise freely and in the spirit of the dancers. This influence and his understanding of dance can be heard in his piano compositions.
In 2008, Dominique Dumais created the piece Résonances Chopin at the National Theater in Mannheim. “The clear, almost crystalline expression and the nuanced moods in Chopin’s piano works never cease to fascinate me. His short piano pieces seem to have distilled the essential moment of a feeling and to present it as in miniature narratives.” The music is literally woven into the choreography, while the dancing bodies serve as resonating bodies for the music. To this end, a grand piano is placed in a recess on the stage and at the center of the dance action. “Chopin’s music forms a wonderful interplay with dance, because both encompass so many subtle nuances between dramatic vitality and lyrical contemplation,” says Dumais. The choreography plays with the resonances that develop between the music and the physicality of the dance.

Dumais is now reworking her early piece for the Würzburg Dance Company and the Theaterfabrik Blaue Halle. It is a reunion with the timeless pianist.