Lara Barsacq con­ceived La Grande Nymphe as a per­form­ance which recalls a danced con­cert and sheds a con­tem­por­ary female per­spect­ive on L’Après-midi d’un faune (After­noon of a Faun).

La Grande Nymphe is for Lara Barsacq an occa­sion to rein­vent the fig­ure of the nymph that glides through L’Après-midi d’un faune, a poem by Mal­larmé which inspired com­poser Debussy and cho­reo­graph­er Nij­in­ski for their own icon­ic pieces that are very much of their own time; Barsacq’s piece draws from these sources of inspir­a­tion to cre­ate a new and quirky dance which is rel­ev­ant to today’s world. What would the appar­i­tion of this great nymph look like today? It would first and fore­most be informed by a new out­look that decon­structs the male gaze and pays homage to the female form. Music is para­mount to the cho­reo­graph­er: Debussy’s Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un faune works as a mat­rix for pop and elec­tro syn­thet­ic pieces that have been devised as so many altern­at­ive ver­sions present­ing a renewed per­spect­ive. Spoken or sung text evokes a desire for a full life freed from the con­straint of norm­ativ­ity – a hymn to free bod­ies, in a per­form­ance that recalls a dance con­cert where the fig­ure of the nymph will move back and forth between the myth and con­tem­por­ary bod­ies moved by enjoy­ment and the hope for a freer life. In this piece that oscil­lates between real­ity and incarn­a­tion, abstrac­tion and nar­ra­tion, dance and poetry, spec­tat­ors will be able to ima­gine their own great nymph – woman, man, trans­gender per­son, anim­al, fairy, illu­sion or delusion.