Parade

1917 (2008)

Director: Charles Picq

Choreographer: Susanna Della Pietra (with the supervision of Lorca Massine)

Cast: Compagnia “Europa Danse”

Producer: Maison de la Danse de Lyon

France

23’, col.

Scriptless, video supplied by the Maison de la Danse de Lyon (a Numeridanse.tv project)

Parade is a one-act ballet by Léonide Massine, with music by Erik Satie and a scenario by Jean Cocteau. The scenery and costumes were by Pablo Picasso and the production was performed for the first time by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes on 18 May 1917 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. The ballet, which is here performed by Europa Danse in the setting recreated by Susanna Della Pietra under the supervision of Lorca Massine in 2008, retraces a parade typical of the time of the Teatro della Fiera. The contrast between the lyrical universe and the brutality of the modern world provided a touch of lightness during World War I.