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Charleroi Danses: A centre of choreography in the heart of Wallonia

01:00 20/03/2017
Through the performing arts, Charleroi Danses has helped to breathe new life into its often-overlooked home town

Charleroi Danses was born with ambition. Back in 1992, the region decided to transform the Royal Ballet of Wallonia from its more formal roots into its modern-day incarnation, making it Belgium’s first contemporary dance company.

“The culture minister was looking at what was happening in Europe at the time, with the royal ballet companies and neoclassical dance,” explains Vincent Thirion, who was the organisation’s general manager and artistic director until the end of 2016. “He wanted to focus on creating a centre for choreography for the artists of Belgium’s French community, but in a more contemporary manner.”

The first head of the centre was multidisciplinary director Frederic Flamand, who led the new modern dance institution in its pioneering first decade until 2004, when he was named director of the National Ballet of Marseille. After a call for a new director, Thirion took over the helm in 2005, steering it towards new artistic horizons alongside associate artists Michèle Anne De Mey, Thierry De Mey and Pierre Droulers.

Charleroi Danses has two bases – Les Ecuries or The Stables in Charleroi, which has three newly renovated studios and a theatre, and La Raffinerie (The Refinery) in Brussels, which also hosts productions. Here, artists can work on their choreography and showcase their creations.

The organisation offers residencies to choreographers from Belgium’s French-speaking Community, providing administrative and technical support, as well as the use of its premises and opportunities for their artistic productions to be viewed on an international scene.

There is also a training programme for professional dancers with classes every day, many of them given by choreographers or artists in residence. The dancers and choreographers come from all over the world, says Thirion. “In Charleroi and in Brussels you have all the nationalities,” he says. “That’s the power of dance - there’s no language barrier.”

Charleroi Danses also works with schools in the two cities, whereby children take classes and can perform their shows at the centre. It’s one of the ways the organisation has been able to give something back to the region, bringing a new dynamic to the Charleroi area.

“We’re able to offer a season of shows to people but also we’ve brought an international atmosphere to the area, and we’ve welcomed many professionals from abroad,” says Thirion. The artists coming to work at the centre haven’t always heard of the region’s economic difficulties, and he believes this allows the idea that everything is possible.

“It gives an important place to Charleroi in the world of contemporary dance, and it allows people to discover this city,” he says. “I think we can be proud that Charleroi Danses has participated in some way in the renewal of this region, which was previously a bit abandoned.”

Thirion looks at art and culture as a means of overcoming the economic struggles Charleroi has gone through. “It’s a way to affect this post-industrial space in a productive way. I’m very proud that these professional dancers are finding their way to Charleroi Danses.”

Over the years the company has achieved many successes, with recent production Kiss and Cry – a unique concept involving two hands acting out a love story – performing 350 dates across the world. The organisation has also taken part in a festival of contemporary dance in Morocco and has toured its productions across Europe, the US and Canada.

Thirion now sets his sights on a new challenge as director of the Cultural Centre of La Louvière. The new director, Annie Bozzini, from France, is a former journalist and director of the monthly review Pour la danse. She comes to Charleroi fresh from 20 years’ experience directing Toulouse’s CDC choreography centre and has a mandate for five years.

A desire to create

Louise Vanneste is a dancer and choreographer in residence at Charleroi Danses. She grew up in Limelette, in Walloon Brabant. “I was four when I started dancing,” she recalls. “My mother is really fond of dance and she took me to a dance class – and very, very quickly I loved it. When I was ten I decided I wanted to do secondary school with a dance option.”

She compares the life of a dancer with that of a choreographer, acknowledging
that neither is easy. “I decided fairly early to be a choreographer. It’s a little bit different from being a dancer, but it can be hard.” She still dances in her own pieces and when she goes on tour.

Vanneste studied in New York under respected postmodernist dancer Trisha Brown, and happened to be there in September 2001 when the Twin Towers were attacked. “In New York, I had a lot of time alone,” she says. “As I didn’t know anybody, I wrote a lot, I thought a lot. The desire to create something really appeared at that point.”

She credits Charleroi Danses as a vital support. “These last four years I’ve been in residence with Charleroi Danses, I’ve had financial, technical and administrative assistance. I’ve had the opportunity to work at the studios and they have helped me with finance. Charleroi Danses is very important for choreographers here in Belgium.”

Her own company is called Rising Horses, created in 2012. “The name comes
from the body of the horse,” she explains. “I find this animal very enigmatic. It’s totally opposite to a human and at the same time something similar. And the horse is very mysterious. The rising part refers to the movement, and a little bit of reaction.”

Vanneste's plans for the coming year include a duet called Thérians, and she will be touring her piece Gone in a Heartbeat.

Written by Karen McHugh