histoire(s) combines live arts, documentary and video installation. It explores how a mythical ballet which was presented 63 years ago inhabits the present minds of audience members who saw the premiere on June 25, 1946 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. Re-enacting the memory of an artwork through the accumulation of narratives, images, bodies and sounds, Olga de Soto proposes to reinvent the relation one has to dance and its history, and thus to the construction of subjectivity and temporality.     

histoire(s) is a video installation that is close to a historical documentary. What is it that marks the memory of audience members, long after the show they watched one night has faded? The choreographer went searching for the spectators who, on 25 June 1946 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, attended the premiere of a mythical ballet based on a Jean Cocteau idea. As she interviewed them, their memories and emotions flooded back and the show came back to life; the eyes that had once absorbed it in the dark now shed light on it. The choreographer has crafted these recollections into a subjective imprint which she projects on the screens of a theatre stage, the original setting. - Claire Diez

choreographic video performance & documentary by Olga de Soto | Concept, direction and choreography  Olga de Soto | With Vincent Druguet or Cyril Accorsi or MauroPaccagnella and Olga de Soto | Video direction, camera and sound Olga de Soto Video editing Montxo de Soto and Olga de Soto | With testimonies of (in order of appearance) | Micheline Hesse, Suzanne Batbedat, Robert Genin,Brigitte Evellin, Julien Pley, Françoise Olivaux,Olivier Merlin and Frédéric Stern.Music (in order of appearance) Johann Sebastian Bach (piano compositions), Sarabande English Suite No. 2 BWV 807, Sarabande English Suite No. 5 BWV 810, Passacaglia in C Minor BWV 852 (transcription forpiano) | Performed by Angela Hewitt, piano CDA67309 & CDA67451/2 Hyperion Records Ltd London | Set design Thibault Vancraenenbroeck | Lighting Henri-Emmanuel Doublier | Lighting regie Geni Diez or Sarah Scouarnec | Sound  Pierre Gufflet | Technical direction Christophe Gualde | Co-production NIELS (ex Coto de Caza asbl), KunstenFESTIVALdesArts, Centre National de la Danse - Pantin. With the support by COM4 HD - Madrid andMinistère de la Communauté française Wallonie-Bruxelles. «!Hommages!» Culturgest, Lisbon 2003

After studying classical dance, contemporary dance and solfege in her native Spain, Olga de Soto continued her training at the prestigious National Centre for Contemporary Dance (CNDC) in Angers, France. She worked with Michèle Anne De Mey, Claudio Bernardo, Eric Pauwels, Pierre Droulers and Félix Ruckert, among others. Since 1992, based in Brussels, she has been researching choreography partly in conjunction with the study of works by contemporary music composers such as Salvatore Sciarrino, Michael Jarrell, Kaija Saariaho, Stefano Scodanibbio, Frederic Rzewski and Denis Pousseur. Her career as a creator began in 1992 with the solo Patios, which was followed by a variety of pieces including I believe that I act... (...upon the dimension of time it will be difficult to find myself at the place where I am expected to be), Hontanar, Paumes, anarborescences and Eclats mats. In 1995 she founded Abaroa, a team of artists from various disciplines. De Soto was resident choreographer at La Raffinerie, Brussels, from 1999-2002. In June 2003, she created histoire(s) (first version). The following year, at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels, she presented Incorporer, the first in a series of five solos whose starting-point was the shows Eclats mats and histoire(s). From 1999-2004 she collaborated with Jérôme Bel, assisting him in creating The Show Must Go On and performing in the piece. She also collaborated with Boris Charmatz on a revival of Con forts fleuve.

Further Reading:

Paula Caspao (.PDF)