12 Easy Waltzes

It’s a joy to be immersed into this waltz anthology concocted by the company Charleroi/ Danses. In it we see on the stage of the Théâtre de la Bastille in Paris the choreographer and dancer Michèle Anne De Mey and her dance partner Grégory Grosjean go into this very well known, yet ever-surprising dance. Whether in triple or quadruple time, popular, pop-rock, ethnic pr electronic, De Mey and Grosjean just spin on the dance floor in a large circle. They bring extra colour and vocabulary, as well as humour and nostalgia, whether with the lyrics to the song ‘Oranger sur le sol ilandais’, sang by Bourvil, ‘Aline’ by Christophe or a ballad by Simon & Garfunkel. Twelve waltzes that aren’t all that easy to dance, but so beautiful to watch for just under an hour.

They spin, spin, spin. Slowly, walking, quickly, running, small steps, large steps, large strides, in an embrace or alone, sometimes with their feet, other times with their eyes – the show 12 Easy Waltzes by and with Belgian choreographer Michèle Anne De Mey is a whirlwind. Streamlined and minimal, these “easy waltzes”, performed with Grégory Grosjean, all evoke pleasure. The pleasure of dancing, with the giddiness of the movement that lasts after the dance has stopped, and the one you feel while sitting and watching others dance. The spectacle of their breaths is accompanied tenderly by the popular music of Christophe, Jacques Brel and Velvet Underground.

Its pronounced minimalism, brevity and sequence of figures like as many playlets give 12 Easy Waltzes a freshness that doesn’t erase the giddiness of the spin…”

Quick and slow, the steps in these Easy Waltzes are easy only in appearance, and the skill of the dancers inspires respect. The moves are streamlined and precise. Whether in pair or solo, kitsch or puzzling, the roundness of the strides is intoxicating and invigorating. A moment of humour, with a waltz danced with heads and eyes. Performance and imagination, an interesting experimental marriage

From Will Tura to Christophe, via Simon & Garfunkel & Velvet Underground and a superb ‘I’m sticking with you’ in which their bodies literally support each other, the couple explore all the facets of a partner dance, and this ‘outmoded delight’ therefore regains a new youth. With a light-heartedness and humour that in no way exclude true physical engagement.”

A large circle drawn on the floor to help spin, waltz steps that weave and unweave in every direction, inside and out, with and without a partner, and the thousand beats of the movement come with a deceptively calm elegance. Vertigo is never far away.