“DAVID HOCKNEY 25” DANCE LATE HOURS

© Droits réservés

Full

Prices
10 € - 20 €
Dates
Thursday 22 May 2025
Saturday 24 May 2025
Hours
7 p.m.-11 p.m.

As part of the “David Hockney 25” exhibition, a grand creative parade of dancers and circus artists will be in the spotlight for two Dance Late Hours on Thursday, 22 May, and Saturday, 24 May 2025.

Artists from different generations and varied backgrounds will undertake a choreographic exploration of the British artist’s works. The Fondation’s guests will include Germain Louvet, performing choreography by Michael Clark; Marion Motin and her “Le Grand Sot” show reinterpreted by five dancers from her company; the MazelFreten duo with guitarist Sherwin Assadan; and Sahar Dehghan presenting a whirling dance solo. Students from the National School of Circus Arts in Rosny-sous-Bois will also provide memorable interludes.

THE PROGRAMME

The programme alternates between “Impromptus” – in which circus-arts students periodically surprise visitors in the galleries or the Hall d’Accueil – and “Saynètes” – ten-minute choreographic performances in front of the works, bringing movement to the galleries and forming a dialogue with the painter’s world.

The dancers create tableaux vivants, seemingly taken straight from the works of David Hockney, and immerse themselves in the artist’s Normandy landscapes, portraits, and even sets of operas such as Ravel’s "L’Enfant et les Sortilèges" or Puccini’s "Turandot".

Public performance in Gallery 5

Germain Louvet dances Michael Clark

Germain Louvet is a French dancer who has been a danseur étoile with the Opéra de Paris since 2016. In a solo performance, Louvet interprets the work of postmodern English choreographer Michael Clark with the Normandy landscapes as a background. The work combines classical steps and inventive artistry performed to one of Erik Satie’s works for piano.

Satie Stud” is a recreation for the FLV Late Hours, the product of the unprecedented encounter between Germain Louvet, an Opéra de Paris danseur étoile, and Michael Clark, the enfant terrible of English dance. To a piano score by Erik Satie, the choreographer unspools a series of decidedly classical movements. And yet Clark deconstructs this exquisite sequence, little by little, to reveal movement that is more adventurous, blending fragile balance and timeless grace. The superbly committed Louvet then seems to be in dialogue with the surrounding works from David Hockney’s Normandy period. As though dancing in a daydream, the artist becomes truly radiant in an expression of both contemplation and seduction. Exceptional.

Crédit artiste : © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko - Adagp, Paris, 2024 | Crédit photographique : © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Martin Argyroglo | © Droits réservés

Public performance in Gallery 5

Marion Motin and her dance company

Excerpts from the “Le Grand Sot” by Marion Motin

Marie Begasse - Alice Bessou - Manon Bouquet - Lorenzo Dassilva Dasse - Julien Ramade

Choreographer and dancer Marion Motin performs in France’s biggest arts venues and has worked at the Opéra de Paris and on concerts for major international artists like Christine and the Queens and Stromae. In her choreographer role, Motin revisits her work “Le Grand Sot,” inspired by Ravel’s Boléro, with five dancers from her company, with the Normandy landscapes as a backdrop.

The Boléro is an excerpt from a piece entitled "Le grand sot" (The Great Fool), a thriller set against the backdrop of a swimming competition. The Boléro represents the team introduction, and on a second reading, it's a caricature of "proper behaviour"—what is expected of me: shaking hands, nodding in agreement, showing oneself, pleasing others... and also an ode to instinct, staying aligned with who one truly is at heart, what one truly feels. It's a battle against taking the easy route, a long-distance race to remain true to oneself.

Crédit photographique : © Droits réservés | © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Martin Argyroglo

Public performance in Gallery 4

The MazelFreten Company

Brandon Masele, Laura Defretin and Sherwin Assadan

Together, Brandon Masele and Laura Defretin form the duo known as MazelFreten and fuse electro and contemporary dance. They were seen by millions of viewers during the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics, for which they staged a ballet on a barge on the Seine. In February 2025, they performed at the Chaillot dance theatre with French pop singer Hervé.

In the David Hockney portrait gallery, they will perform a fluid, poetic duet to the live guitar music of Sherwin Assadan. The artists combine the flowing creativity of hip-hop dance with the harmony of contemporary movement.

© Droits réservés

Public Performance in Gallery 10

Sahar Dehghan

Dancer and choreographer Sahar Dehghan performs worldwide and is just as skilled in working with Bartabas for the 2023 “Cabaret de l’exil – Femmes Persanes” show as she is in creating a choreographic performance, “WHIRL Quantum Dance,” with researchers from CERN Geneva. Sahar takes possession of the exhibition’s last gallery with a whirling, gyrating solo dance spectacle of uncommon visual potency, a dialogue between music and the sets of David Hockney’s operas and ballets.

"Do remember they can't cancel the spring."
David Hockney

"Spring... Nowruz is a celebration of spring and Nature’s renaissance, how can I not be moved by this David Hockney adage, being an Iranian woman invited to dance for him, with his Work? An oeuvre so inspired by Nature, one to which I wish to offer the symbol of the spiral, that which never dies. I would like to pay homage to David Hockney, to all that he received, through his eyes, from the sky, and that he painted so as to present it to the world. Like a whirling dervish who receives azure to give to the earth through his heart, as all trees do. I therefore wish to pay tribute to his Art, which connects us to the soul of all things, making it immortal."
Sahar Dehghan

© Droits réservés

Public performances in the Hall d’Accueil and Galleries 1 and 9

National School of Circus Arts in Rosny-sous-Bois

Public performances in the Hall d’Accueil and Galleries 1 and 9

The National School of Circus Arts in Rosny-sous-Bois (ENACR), founded in 1983 on the initiative of Bernard Turin, has become a vital institution in circus-arts education. Since the school opened, more than 500 artists have completed their studies there, enhancing the discipline’s national and international reputation.

Six ENACR students have been invited to perform “Impromptus” among David Hockney’s works: one- and two-person balancing acts, juggling, Cyr wheel, hula-hoop and more. Visitors will be surprised and amazed by these unexpected flash performances. 

© Guillaume Wydouw