So Schnell 1990 – 2020

About this event

So Schnell was originally created to inaugurate the dance stage of the new Opéra Berlioz at the Corum in Montpellier in December 1990, then reworked by Dominique Bagouet in autumn 1992. Longtime Bagouet interpreter Catherine Legrand literally recreates the piece with twelve past and new dancers. This final opus, entrusted to its performers as if to defy fragile memory, pairs Bach’s Cantata BWV 26 with the harsh, recorded clatter of mechanical knitting machines from a family mill. For the 2020 recreation, Legrand deliberately removed the original sets, lighting and costumes to focus the audience on the choreographic writing itself, with a new lighting design by Begoña Garcia Navas. The soundscape sets spiritual music against an industrial, bruitist counterpoint, highlighting the work’s contagious vitality and rare emotional delicacy.