Natalie
van Parys
In France Natalie van Parys is considered to be one of the most
gifted baroque dancers.
After studying ballet and modern dance, she joined the Ris et
Danceries company from 1987 to 1994 as a dancer and assistant choreographer.
She studied under Francine Lancelot and was her production assistant
for Le Malade Imaginaire at the Théâtre du Châtelet
in 1990 and for Zarandanzas presented at the Biennale de Lyon in
1992.
She participated in large productions of Baroque operas such as
Lully’s famous Atys, as well as Les Indes Galantes, Rameau’s
Castor et Pollux and Charpentier’s Médée, directed
by William Christie, conductor of the Arts Florissants orchestra.
She has performed several times at the BAM in New York as well
as at the Jacob’s Pillow Festival.
Within the company she was also the assistant of François
Raffinot, Béatrice Massin and Ana Yepes.
Francine Lancelot asked her to translate and study the Italian
treatise on dance, Tratatto di ballo di Gennaro Magri,
the only text that links baroque dance to the classical ballet
of the end of the 18th century.
She used these new technical and stylistic elements from the treatise
in her choreography La Fée Urgèle by Duni and Favart,
performed at the Opéra Comique with Christophe Rousset and
staged by Jean-Marie Villégier.
The various choreographies that she created to music by Jean-Philippe
Rameau while in Japan allowed her to pursue her research on the
post-baroque period.
Starting from 1995, she created the staging and choreography of
six successive baroque operas, for the Hokutopia International
Festival of Music in Tokyo:
Didon et Enée (H. Purcell),
Pygmalion (J-P. Rameau),
Les Elémens (J-F. Rebel),
Les Fêtes d’Hébé (J-P. Rameau) directed
by Ryo Terakado.
Anacréon (J-P. Rameau) with Christophe Rousset and the Talens
lyriques.
Christophe Rousset also asked her to do the staging of Admeto,
re di Tessaglia (G.F. Haendel), for the Haendel Festival in Halle
(where the composer was born).
In 1995, with several dancers from Ris et Danceries, she created
the company Les Fragments Réunis and, together with Françoise
Denieau, staged Le Sommeil ou les Métamorphoses d’un
Songe, at the Amphithéâtre of the Théâtre
National de l’Opéra de Bastille in Paris. This performance
organized the dances of the baroque repertory into short scenes
according to the four major entertainment themes: Heroic, Idyllic,
Exotic and Magical.
Since 1994, she has joined the L’Eventail company and continues
to choreograph regularly for operas or other events.
She has choreographed and staged Béatrice et Bénédict (H.
Berlioz), for Jean-Marie Villégier, who directed Atys.
The performances took place at the Opera of Lausanne, the main
theatre in Bordeaux and at the Rhine Opera. She has also choreographed
L’Amant anonyme, a work dating from the end of the
18th century by the Knight of Saint George, for the Opera in Metz.
She is highly respected for the staging of a performance dedicated
to the works of her grandfather, Georges van Parys, a composer
who wrote songs such as La complainte de la Butte, sung
recently in the film Moulin Rouge by Ewan McGregor.
Les Cavatines, her latest company, is dedicated to the preservation
and production of the French tradition in the lyric arts: dance,
musical theatre, comedy, and operettas.
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