As some of you have seen, the use of pseudo-sign languages is widespread in ballet. The following is an example typical L3HS gesturalising.

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pnm://sonix.sdv.fr/arte/danse/last_h.rm

Save the last dance for me : Eine Choreographie nach Schumanns Todeslied von Louise Le Cavalier und Edouard Lock mit der Tänzerin, Sängerin und Schauspielerin Carole Laure.
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Louise is dancing significantly slower in this video in order for Carole to keep up with her |-) The whole choreography is concentrated on the arms (little to no footwork), and filmed from a close distance. Has a very lesbian feel to it IMO. Hey, it's no Karole Armitage doing Vogue, but still quite nice

I would like to know, are there any dancers who have studied this type of gesturalising in class? What I've read is that it entered dance via the study of mime. Does anyone here have more experience with this?

Tex.

Good to see the explosive Louise Le Cavalier again. The first time I saw her was in a duet with David Bowie while he sang live on-stage. Lock's work in pop videos worked best for me, as the two full length pieces I have seen by him became tedious after the first 15-20 minutes.

I was wondering what Cavalier had been doing since Lock fell under the spell of pointe work in "Salt" and she left his company, La La La Human Steps. I see this video is dated 2001, so maybe they are working together again?

Interesting that you use the term "ballet" for this choreography, Maria. Is that in the sense that some of my German friends use it - that all performance dance can be described that way?

Looking forward to reading the responses to your question on gestural movement. It reminded me of the introduction to Forsythe's "Hermann Schmerman" (1994).

<small>[ 08 September 2004, 04:01 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Nope, I do not use the term "ballet" for this video (see below for what I meant). This is just a music video for (Canadian?) MTV or something pop like that; certainly I wouldn't call this a ballet. BTW, this video was made in 1989, not 2004.

I just said that gesturalising was widespread in contemporary ballets, such as those by (indeed) Forsythe, Lock and even NDT's Paul Lightfoot. Have you even seen Lightfoot's Shutters Shut? It is a completely gesturalisation-based ballet.

Louise, post Salt/L3HS, has done a bunch of collaborations in Canada and has taught here and there. One of the main reasons she quit L3HS is because she had twins and, I guess, wanted to be a mother to her girls.

This is what she looks like nowadays:

BEFORE (or rather, during L3HS):
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/h12/f1/xx007332-v6.jpg

AFTER:
http://thedancecurrent.com/photos/review_27_6.jpg
http://www.cyberus.ca/~tengates/PHOTOS/Louise.gif
http://www.cyberus.ca/~tengates/Lula.htm

As you can see, completely different from the Heavy Metal peroxide-burned dreadlocks-look she had in L3HS. Little wild girls grow up:-) I still think she has a very strong presence.

Tex.