Warbling up North

PITEÅ: Dancing is a tough job so finding the time after hours to create a piece of choreography with your colleagues requires amazing dedication.

However, Jérôme Marchand has managed to choreograph The Reed Warbler, his first ballet for Dans i Nord, in his spare time as well as writing the music and designing the costumes. And he also has a sideline as a tattoo artist!

Do you like to be in charge of all aspects?

‘Yes. It was a good exercise for me to push myself to create 26 minutes of music. That was a big challenge. Also to work with my colleagues but on the other side. This group know how to work with a choreographer and they are amazing. They have big hearts and they come with me in my fantasy.’

Jérôme, won public acclaim as a fierce Mercutio in Mats Ek’s Julia och Romeo, so it came as a surprise that his choreography was so humorous.

‘My first idea was to entertain the public. I wanted people to enjoy the evening. I try to build an atmosphere, I twist it a little and then I finish with the text to make sense of it.’

The text was spoken in a Scottish accent.

‘That is my friend Calum, he’s a dancer at the opera and I asked him to push the accent a little. I was watching this bird documentary about the cuckoo and it was so funny, so ridiculous. I thought this is for me, it was the base and after we develop.’

Your female birds walk on pointe.

‘I like pointes and I think people want to see dance on pointe. The dancers have worked so many years to develop their technique, so why not?’

Do you enjoy watching your work?

‘Yes, I enjoy but, of course, I saw things I want to change. This piece we started last season and we work after hours. It was a crazy time creating the music at my place on my machine. It was a good couple of months to put all the things together and now it is happening.

Olof Westering, who admits he is enjoying his new role with Dans i Nord, said this is the sort of diverse programme they want to produce.

'We want to build audiences and find strategies to feed the whole dance chain.'

Jérôme's new work, The Reed Warbler, premiered in Piteå on September 19 and is touring Norrbotten. It has also been filmed for SVT.

See review on Criticaldance Länk till annan webbplats.

Maggie Foyer
12 October 2015