Larmes blanches

1985 Creation

Piece for 4 dancers
Choreography Angelin Preljocaj
Music Jean-Sébastien Bach, Claude Balbastre, Henry Purcell
Soubd track Marc Krief
Costumes Annick Goncalves
Costumes adaptation (2006) Angelin Preljocaj
Assisted by Martine Hayer
Lighting Jaques Chatelet
Choreologist Dany Lévêque
Dancers Catherine Beziex, Silvia Bidegain, Christophe Haleb, Angelin Preljocaj
Costumes realization Le Chat Botté Costumier
Production Compagnie Preljocaj
A prize winner at the A.R.I.A.M. Île-de-France (January 1986)
Duration 20min
Premiered on 09 November 1985, Forum de l’ADIAM, Centre Georges Pompidou

"… Hardly recognisable, liberated, inspired... In his new choreography, Preljocaj has let in a liberated breath of poetic air (...) he pieces together a polished and tender love story He bares himself, body and soul (...) The pieces opens with a motionless prelude; two watchful dancers opt for certain basic movements. Then four dancers take flight, criss-crossing the space in a rich variety of scales and registers. Then, without transition, gestures once again become «mechanical». But the gesturesare rounded, in gentle «closeness», undulating, with glimpses of baroque; oldfashioned figures which stiffen and collapse successively. Consciously stylised turns, each one superimposed on the other in a continuous trompe-l’œil (...) one suspects that Preljocaj is himself a musician. Fascinated by counterpoint, his dancing is constructed like an orchestral polyphony.

Larmes blanches is a sensitive piece which deals with the obscure relationships of two couples trapped by the conventions of everyday life. Starting with a classical outline, the dancers twist and sharpen it, adding surprising changes of tempo."

Laurence Louppe