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The Bastille Dances 1989 | ||||||
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Commissioned to celebrate the bicentenary of the French Revolution, the piece began from the central image of the Revolution, the storming and demolition of the Bastille, and the subsequent dispersal of its stones throughout Paris - an image standing for the destruction of the Ancien Regime and subsequent distribution of power to the populace. A continuous performance lasting from two hours to a week, the piece used 8000 breeze blocks to explore the relationships between politics, power and buildings: how buildings reflect the value of society and why people organise themselves in building what they build. The process of the piece was one of spectacular and continuous mutation. Harnessing the energy of the French Revolution, The Bastille Dances created a rhythm within which buildings and structures are transformed, broken down and rebuilt in a form of grand scale sculptural theatre. Like the most dramatic events of the French Revolution, each evening's 'performance' came as an eruption out of the slow process of change.
Commissioned by Théâtre de Cherbourg and the London International Festival of Theatre. Funded by Arts Council of Great Britain, British Council, the South Bank Centre and ONDA.
"A huge outdoor performance about the individual's relationship to history. On the walkways outside the National Theatre, 15 performers and musicians arranged and re-arranged 8000 breeze blocks into different structures in a continuous performance over five days and nights. On the last evening, I climbed onto one of the National Theatre's balconies and watched the scene below against the backdrop of the city. At one point one of the performers was lying on his back very high up on one structure. He started to sing, his voice floating up into the night sky... A light rain started to fall. Very gently. I wept. Later that year the Berlin Wall came down."
Lucy Neal, co-director of LIFT, Dramatic Moments, The Guardian 1997
British performances:
London, London International Festival of Theatre, National Theatre
International performances:
France, Théâtre de Cherbourg
Amsterdam Summer Festival
Salzburg, Szene Festival
Barcelona Olympic Festival
