CHENNAI: It has been a century since the ‘avant-garde’ nature of The Rite of Spring, a ballet-cum-orchestral concert by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, provoked a riot among the audience in Paris. Marking its place as one of the most ‘scandalous’ ballets in history, the original composition and choreography has often been adapted and performed by several artistes several years therafter.
Francoise Chat, a motion theatre artiste and dancer-cum-juggler, has given a twist to it, by interpreting the 20th century ballet, through dance, theatre and lots of juggling! The artiste will be performing a street play-juggling act, organised by Alliance Francaise of Madras and Phoenix Marketcity.
“I started my journey into becoming a performing artist when I was eight,” he shares. With parents who worked as art curators, experimenting with an unconventional career didn’t come with too many obstacles. “They were very open minded and always encouraged me to work hard towards my goal,” recalls Francois.
Mixing dance with juggling, he claims that juggling balls are not just props. “For me they are alive and sometimes, I even imagine that they are my love, a friend or a person from my family. The objects I use are as real as any actor,” shares Francois, who will be using the juggling balls to represent a young girl — the one chosen from a crowd of girls for a ritual of sacrifice in the ballet.
Francois is constantly learning movements that ‘influence’ his way of performance. It drives him to experiment and improvise. “I meet and learn from choreographers and theatre directors. But I have to thank everyone from the ‘circus world’ for encouraging me to experiment with these two forms and also combine them,” he says.
It took Francois about a year to conceptualise the performance, which not only combined dance and juggling, but also street play. So we asked him: why take The Rite of Spring to the street? “The nature of the ballet is very rustic and natural. So, I decided to not present it in a closed theatre. I wanted to do it outdoors, with natural settings — the streets and sound,” he points out.
The music and sounds of the ballet will be contemporary and Francois credits his colleague-cum-friend Fred Giuliani for that. “We have adapted the music from the original, which was done in 1913! We wanted to keep the essence of the original,” he says.
Ask him if he would be able to choose between juggling and dancing and, “No!” he exclaims. “Just like how breathing and heart beat cannot be separated, I cannot separate the two. It’s my life!” declares Francois who also works in set designing for theatre.
The city is not new to Francois who has performed here a couple of times. “I am thankful to AFM for inviting me to the city often and my memories of performing here in the early 2000s is always memorable. I would also like to collaborate with the actors from ‘Koothu-P-Pattarai!” he adds.
Francois Chat will be performing at Phoenix MarketCity, Velachery on October 15 from 5:30 pm. For details, visit www.francoischat.com
Other productions of Francois that mixed dance with juggling
1993
Clip-Clop
1996
L’oeuf du vent