Dance Suite

Dance Suite, written between April and July 2024, is a piece in which I wanted to work around the energies of different dances. I chose to write the title in English so as not to refer too much to a French title (Suite de danses), which I felt could be perceived as a reference to the Baroque period. Instead, I was inspired by references to the works of Bartók and Bernstein. Although the 7 movements (excluding the breaths) can be performed in isolation, I would like a choice of movements to always be played in the progression that shapes the piece, in chronological order. The energy of dance is special in that it places us in a particular, well-defined bodily state in the space of a few moments; and it was a pleasure to alternate these physical impulses into a whole that I hope will be coherent, with its specificity of bringing together in the same work types of dance from different parts of the globe. In addition, these movements are musical “inspirations” based on my idea of dances. They are in no way “harmonizations”, “arrangements” or worse, “folkloristic” visions. Dance Suite is dedicated to the two artists who inspired, commissioned and created it: Ludmila Berlinskaya and Arthur Ancelle.