The New York Baroque Dance Co.

Catherine Turocy in one of her 7 choreographies for this dance which she has created over and over again from 1983 to 2018.

The Characters/ Diversity and Transformation (Location in NYC TBA)

Exploring A master work of historical significance, Les Caractères de la Danse (1715)

Honoring the Women’s Suffrage Centennial in 2020, The Characters/Diversity and Transformation is a workshop exploring one of the first professional women choreographers, Françoise Prevost, and her iconic creation, Les Caractères de la Danse.

Original descriptions of this dance can be found in the Mercure de France Paris Journal and what is described is a unique portrayal by one dancer of 11 different faces of humankind; young and old, men and women, privileged and vulnerable.

Françoise Prevost, a principal dancer at the Paris Opera passed this work on to her pupils, the famous “Maries”, Camargo and Sallé, who both created their own versions and passed the work onto to the next generation of performers in Europe.  These original choreographies by women reflected social and theatrical practices of 18th century France. Catherine Turocy, internationally celebrated for her work in Baroque dance, will teach her original period choreography as a way of introducing the students to Baroque compositional structure. Each day a specialist with a focus on Black Haitian dance (Marcea Daiter), Ballet Folklorico of the Hispanic heritage (Roberto Lara), Native American dance (We are in conversation with Tohanash Tarrant of the Shinnecock Reservation on Long Island) or Gender bending in the Burlesque (Austin McCormick (in negotiation) and Joe Williams), will lecture on their topic and introduce students to the “characters” of these cultures. The second weekend of the workshop the students will create their own dances of “characters” that represent America in 2020-21.  We are asking Joe Williams, an expert in Delsarte, to assist in coaching the students. And through sharing the template of this famous work with the current generation of dancers, we hope to facilitate honest discussions of current and past ideas of gender, social class and age and a safe creative space for performers to explore identity in all its complexity.

The duet version with Timothy Kasper and Catherine Turocy at Florence Gould Hall, New York City, September 23, 2005

The ability to perform such a dance demands a “state of transformation” from the dancer. The changes are not made with costumes or masks or props. The performers must own all the characters and emotions within their being, connected by a line of energy. Discovering this line of energy which allows the performer to shift on a breath, builds empathy for these characters both in the performer and in the audience. The truth of this statement was discovered by Turocy in her January 2019 workshop at ODC in San Francisco where she taught this dance for the first time to dancers outside of her company. The students felt enriched by a common humanity by broadening their understanding of ourselves as individuals and as a society.

Encouraged by Turocy’s experience and students in the workshop, NYBDC is eager to expand the workshop to include a creative performance aspect.

Turocy’s original 1983 version in performance with Mercury Baroque in 2007.

Produced by the NYBDC this workshop will be in several cities across the U.S.:  NYC at Gibney Studios in June of 2020 and in April of 2021 it will go to Dallas, Texas and Chicago, Illinois.  As part of the workshop, a public performance with the students in collaboration with the Dallas Bach Society Orchestra will take place at the Saluna International Music and Arts Festival dedicated to bridging the classical arts and contemporary life.  Next, the NYBDC will take the workshop to Chicago. Currently we are speaking to collaborators.s conducting an 8 week workshop this fall. Because of the mimetic nature of the dance it is not required to have previous Baroque dance instruction. The workshop is truly inclusive and invites dancers of all styles and ages as well as musicians and actors. The public performance will contain many styles of dance as represented by the students.