GRACE Jeff Buckley Dances

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Director and choreographer: Benjamin MILLEPIED

Playwrighter: Christian LONGCHAMP

Lightning designer: Lucy CARTER / Associate lightning designer: Hector MURRAY

Artistic collaboration / video: Olivier SIMOLA

Scenography: Aurélia MICHELIN

Fashion designer: Coline OMASSON

Starring:

David Adrien FREELAND, Eva GALMEL, Daisy JACOBSON,
Oumrata KONAN, Morgan LUGO, Loup MARCAULT, Jobel MEDINA, Helena OLMEDO, Coline OMASSON, Caroline OSMONT,
Victoria Rose ROY, Ulysse ZANGS

at La Seine Musicale until november 10, 2024

Grace, the aptly named. We couldn’t dream of a better title for this tribute to Jeff BUCKLEY! Added to this grace are pat r touches, an almost contained turmoil that is conveyed with truth by a troupe of dancers brimming with presence.

As with his version of Romeo and Juliet, Benjamin MILLEPIED once again combines a highly choreographed show with a libretto and video. We’re reminded of Jamie LLOYD, whose concept of a live filmed show is unmistakable. However, where LLOYD “dirties” his characters and boosts his actors to a smooth and sometimes bland perfection, MILLEPIED magnifies each dancer and lets the micro-imperfections further sublimate the show, keeping in mind that the show must remain alive. The result is a more realistic, authentic impression. And then there’s his research into volumes, which adds relief to the whole.

Grace is like a living photo album. From the group photo to the highlights of BUCKLEY’s life, you can’t help but wander through each page with melancholy. And since it’s a photo album, the light – sometimes white, sometimes psychedelic – plays its part to the full, highlighting a line, a shadow, an outline. To this end, the video production is indescribably accurate, disregarding and even delightfully appropriating what would ordinarily appear to be flaws. Backlighting and reverse field subjugate us. What’s more, the balance between video and stage is so masterful that you never feel taken hostage by the screen. The viewer remains free to move towards one or the other, although the point of attention is always fully defined, making the other, screen or stage, a parenthesis as useful as it is appreciable.

Needless to say, the score played out on this choreographed biopic is an envelope without which the performers and audience alike can curl up. Hallelujah, arguably the best-known of the songs along with Calling You, is a real eye-catcher.

The dance movements alternate between aerial fluidity and jerky movements, depending on the emotion to be conveyed. An emotion we appreciate just as much when it’s pure, by which we mean devoid of spoken parts.

We’ll also be surprised by certain paradoxes, such as an orgiastic scene of indecent innocence and rare beauty. To make this possible in this scene and throughout the performance, the dancers are more in interpretation than demonstration. The erotic-charismatic choreography is skilfully mastered, not only in every step, but also in every gesture and every look.

Grace is, like Buckley, iconic and unique!

Synopsis

Following the success of Romeo and Juliet in 2022, Benjamin Millepied returns to La Seine Musicale with GRACE Jeff Buckley Dances, his first world premiere to combine music and dance. The project celebrates the life and work of Jeff Buckley, an iconic figure in late 20th-century rock.

Jeff Buckley, a fiery personality with a captivating aura, continues to inspire those who have crossed his path or attended his concerts, marked by lyricism, poetry and a passionate inner quest for love, carried by his unique voice.

GRACE, the title of Jeff Buckley’s only album released during his lifetime, is a unique work in which each track shines with its own brilliance, constituting an album of exceptional musical quality, including the emblematic Hallelujah, Lover, You Should Have Come Over, Corpus Christi Carol and Last Goodbye. This year marks the 30th anniversary of this cult album, and the GRACE show offers audiences the chance to rediscover it.

Benjamin Millepied, passionate about the work of Jeff Buckley, has conceived a series of tableaux depicting the singer’s life through his varied emotions, passion, pain, love and tragic demise. Using dance as its principal artistic language, the show also integrates visual elements such as documentary footage, video, live sequences, dialogue and moving sets to create a living cinematic universe, allowing us to grasp the legend that was Jeff Buckley.

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