What traces does dance leave behind? What “heritage” do we keep of it, and what about the archives that its protagonists leave us? This book offers a pragmatic approach to the questions raised by the challenges of “dance memory”, based on the experience of the Centre national de la danse (CND) in building up a documentary heritage devoted entirely to this art form over the past 25 years.
This perspective on the notions, gestures and methodologies associated with dance archives is accompanied by a catalog of the major exhibition Pièces distinguées which, at the end of 2024, offered a paradoxical unveiling of the 285 or so archives and private collections held at the CND. A guide to these holdings has also been added, a valuable tool for amateurs and researchers alike. A whole landscape is thus created before the reader's eyes, combining traces of creative thought, reflections on pedagogy, and artistic and human experience.
Laurent Sebillotte is Director of the Heritage, Audiovisual and Publishing Department at the Centre national de la danse, which he joined in 1999 to create a specialized media library that is now internationally recognized. He is also curator of numerous archives belonging to choreographic artists and researchers, curator of exhibitions and author of publications on the subject of documentary sources and archives in dance.