New Movement Collective reimagines Les Noces

Ahead of the January 2024 performances of Les Noces – The Departure by New Movement Collective (NMC) at Woolwich Works, Malgorzata (Gosia) Dzierzon speaks to Jordan Lian about the creative process and inspirations that have moulded the production.

Founded in 2009, NMC has a reputation for work that time and again redefines the boundaries of choreography and performance through ambitious, cross-disciplinary practice. Dzierzon explains how the group of dance artists that is the collective creates works in response to found spaces. The artists brainstorm an idea and concept for each space, before filling and enriching it with dance choreography.

For NMC, Les Noces – The Departure is a work about love and community. So, how can we think about union and compassion as a space to be enjoyed and shared? Within the performance space, how can we amplify new voices?

The choice of Les Noces is fascinating. First performed in 1923, Bronislava Nijinska’s canonical ballet redefined the danced expression of marriage, in all its sacrifices and celebrations, and our view of ballet’s expressive range.

The ballet remains open to interpretation. Les Noces features striking group dance sequences and an exceptional score by Igor Stravinsky, both with a unique texture that continues to stimulate questions of humanity and tradition. The ballet’s centenary included a new reading by Andrea Miller for English National Ballet, a celebration of Nijinska’s legacy at The Royal Opera House featuring students from The Royal Ballet School, and performances of the original by the Mariinsky Ballet and Salt Lake City-based Ballet West.

NMC’s rendition is striking because it is a singular voice that explores Les Noces as a ballet of community, rather than one primarily of sacrifice and the inequality between traditional treatment of men and women.

The production has had a long incubation. Dzierzon tells how the idea for the work first arose in the aftermath of Brexit, when the fabric of our global community showed early signs of distress. That sentiment of division persisted throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, when she unexpectedly lived for several months in Hong Kong, and continues to challenge us today.

In Hong Kong, and despite stiff border restrictions, Dzierzon was able to build a new community. She believes that, at its core, NMC’s version of Les Noces puts forth ideas of celebration and community that speak to her experience of finding connection in a trying time of distance.

Yet, as with all NMC’s choreography, movement and collaboration are vehicles by which global challenges can be contemplated and interpreted. Notably, one of the collective’s goals for Les Noces – The Departure was to understand how to bring dance back to audiences; how to unite performers, performance and audience within one space. To this end, she says that Woolwich Works is the perfect venue for bringing choreography and music within reach of those watching.

Dzierzon speaks passionately about the collaborative spirit that underpins NMC and Les Noces. While she does not see it as a ‘mega’ work, she leaves a strong impression that it will prove a progressive undertaking that will truly take dance into the community, and vice-versa.

She spoke at length about the music of Les Noces, and how the NMC production pushes the boundaries of musical performance in dance. The ballet is laden with tension and layering of powerful music in its instrumentation and choir. Les Noces is a famously difficult choral piece to learn, and the Opera Holland Park Chorus have gallantly taken it on. Moreover, with four grand pianos 6 percussionists, and timpani Stravinsky’s music promises to be a powerful force, renewed.

In its musical choices, NMC has also thought to reinvent tradition. The performances at Woolwich Works also feature three new imaginings that are ‘informed’ by Stravinsky’s composition. MC Zani will perform a beatboxing tribute, to which two youth companies will dance. Manchester-based Company Chameleon’s Chameleon Youth will perform with NMC on January 13, whilst ENBYouthCo will perform on January 14.

But NMC’s Les Noces – The Departure does not only explore themes of union and community through engaging younger dancers. In a partnership with the dance group, Leap of Faith, dancers 60+ have been invited to use the ballet as a lens by which to explore their own memories of love and union.

Dzierzon speaks with enthusiasm about these initiatives, but simultaneously remains very vocal about the collaborative nature of NMC. It is clear she remains deeply motivated by the inspiration and community of the collective, and how collaboration across musical genres and mediums enriches the choreographic process.

Les Noces – The Departure promises to cast new light on an old work; a collaborative perspective that brings forth an overlooked side of the transformative Stravinsky/Nijinska ballet.

Les Noces – The Departure by New Movement Collective is at Woolwich Works on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 January, 2024.