Modern ballet served up French

New Delhi, March 12: French ballerina Regine Chopinot, who is in the Capital with a contemporary ballet troupe, feels that the world woul...

New Delhi, March 12: French ballerina Regine Chopinot, who is in the Capital with a contemporary ballet troupe, feels that the world would have fewer problems if each of us was a bit of a dancer too. 8220;We think too much. If each person were more aware of his body and found a harmony between the body and mind, there would be harmony on earth,8221; says Chopinot, 46, who will perform a ballet called Four Seasons at the Siri Fort auditorium with five other dancers on Saturday. Four Seasons has already been performed in Bombay, Bangalore and Calcutta.

8220;Dance needs discipline, compels you to listen to yourself. That is very difficult,8221; she says. Chopinot, who began dancing at the age of 5, switched over from classical to contemporary dancing in the 8217;80s. She says that the classical form was too codified, while the spirit of the 8217;80s was that of punk, rebellion and freedom. 8220;We were a new generation which had rejected its past and for which everything was possible. There was a big space in front of us. And I found the same infinite space of possibilities in the body and within. Only the abstract expressions of contemporary dance could convey such space,8221; she says.

While Four Seasons is set to Vivaldi8217;s music and depicts the cycle of time and man8217;s relationship with nature, the prelude to it, Song of the Moon, is a solo dance by her, set to Sanskrit slokas dedicated to the sun and moon by Indian musician Ravi Prasad. She says that she obtained a good interpretation of Vivaldi8217;s Four Seasons with the help of a young Italian musician, Fabio Biondi. 8220;Otherwise, in France, it has been reduced to something tawdry which you get to hear on elevators or answering machines,8221; she says.

Her next ballet will be about time and she intends to have 14 dancers in the age group of 20 to 70 on stage. She says that she watches Indian forms of dance like Bharatnatyam, Odissi and Kalaripayattu, along with other dance forms. Asked if she assimilates other forms in her dancing, she says: 8220;I am not a chameleon who keeps changing my form. I am finding a universal style by invention.8221;

Chopinot8217;s two decade old company, Ballet Atlantique, has 12 dancers, some of them from outside France. She says she would like to have an Indian dancer in her troupe. 8220;I have been meeting them at all the places I performed and have even asked one of them in Calcutta to join me if he liked,8221; she says.