An Example of the Dancing of Objects as having Meaning: Louis XIII, Le Ballet de la Merlaison

The librettos or musical compositions of seventeenth-century ballets present dancers that the public recognise for their symbolic characteristics and their unique dances. In the 1680’s, both Ménéstrier and Michel de Pure evoke the importance of this theatrical function. The original score of the Ballet de la Merlaison takes the traditional practice of blackbird hunting and makes it emblematic of the necessity of representing the 39 roles in 16 entrées. Masked all the while, the courtiers and the fournisseurs play the roles: Winter, Flemish Cage-Carriers, Falconers, Peddlers of Tricks and Tinkling-bells, Pistol-hunters, Crossbow-hunters, Mowers, the Spring …, each character dances his own object. After many years of searching out the unknown dance styles of the early seventeenth century with our dancers, we have come to “re-invent” La Belle Dance, also called as a beau ballet by St.Hubert in his method of 1641. Louis XIII created “the steps, the airs and the creation of the costumes.” and danced it with his companions, noble gentlemen, quarter masters and dancing masters in 1635. The musical score leads us inexorably to question and understand the vital role “played” by the props and accessories themselves in the creation and characterization of this hunt. We believe that it was presented as a metaphor of the “Armada,” referring both to the coming war with Spain and to the “conquest” of Mlle de La Fayette by the King!

Christine Bayle, dancer, choreographer, actress and stage director is an expert in the Baroque period, mainly from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. She works with dance, the musical interpretation of French Suites with dance, theater and the baroque eloquence of the body (Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Strasbourg, 1987-2013). She always performs original theatrical creations with musicians playing on stage. She has made more than fifty ballets and productions both in France and in Europe, America (North and Sud), Japan and China and also trips with AFAA in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. She created a comédie-ballet « Armande Béjart, épouse Molière » and a musical show ‘Le jeune Amour » based on two Contes of Jean de la Fontaine with music played by Marianne Muller, viola. She works with a loyal team of dancers whom she has formed and musicians led by Patrick Blanc in the two companies she has founded, L’Eclat des muses et Cie Belles Dances. She has submitted numerous publications including those of EADH, EDC, ACRAS, CNRS, Garnier (Les Plaisirs de l’Arsenal, 369), l’Harmattan, PUF (XVIIe siècle, 238) etc… Member of PRODA, ACRAS, CIRRAS Danse, EDC, EADH.