Created in celebration of the Grand Palais before it closed for works, La Ronde, a creation by the choreographer Boris Charmatz, was performed behind closed doors on 16 January in the Nave of the Grand Palais, in defiance of the pandemic.

When, in 2019, the Rmn Grand Palais invited Boris Charmatz to take over the Grand Palais, the choreographer imagined a storm of movement from some one hundred dancers. This idea would prove impossible during the public health crisis. Against the immensity of the Nave, the intimacy of a duet was a necessity. From daybreak to nightfall, 20 duets followed on from one another for 12 hours, exploring the choreographic repertoire and its genres, inside a Grand Palais blanketed in snow.

The Grand Palais is a cathedral to the French republic. Even devoid of all its activities this spring, the empty place continued to speak. Its long history continued to ring out. To me, it feels like a giant showcase for our deepest desires.

As we could not go suddenly from lockdown to welcoming crowds, I created a round dance, La Ronde. Arthur Schnitzler wrote the extraordinary La Ronde, about couples bound to one another, at the same time that the Grand Palais was being built. In 1900 the venue opened and Schnitzler self-published his work, which caused a scandal due to its sexual themes or perhaps, because the author was Jewish. It shifted the focus from the figure of the couple to an endless exploration of the chain that moves bodies, pierces them. Schnitzler talks candidly about love and sex between figures of society (actresses, soldiers, prostitutes, counts, etc.). He invents a protocol of desire that is permeable, passed on and transmitted to the other, sometimes under tension, and without harmony. The dramaturgy of the book forms a dance in itself, where the couples never fully come back together, instead constantly encountering others. The Grand Palais is an unmeasurable space for which it is difficult to imagine any half-measures. We can either unleash a tempest attended by 6,000 people or see it as a case into which we delicately place a prosaic jewel: an infinite chain of dancing, singing, talking twosomes. Bodies move, collide, embrace, leave one another yet stay, bound together in the mental space, taking root to maintain a continuity of desire and the living.

I imagine a series of enshrined couples, a landscape of dancing, talking, singing duos with extraordinary artists who are suspended in time to sustain this hotbed for several hours.

Iconic pieces from history, duets invented for the occasion, extracts of Schnitzler s work, artists who expand the senses and transport visitors. An event whose duration will be embraced by all, performers and public alike, in a long and gentle choreographic blaze of shared emotion.   Boris Charmatz

An artistic event that looks to the future, La Ronde paved the way for a programme from a Grand Palais that is even more open to all, more accessible, anchored in the movements and considerations faced by our society. La Ronde was filmed and broadcast on France 5 on 12 March, co-produced by Elephant doc, [terrain] and the Rmn Grand Palais. The film, by Julien Condemine, allowed the public to watch a condensed version of this 12-hour performance. A 52-minute behind-the-scenes documentary on the creation of La Ronde was also co-produced by the Rmn Grand Palais and Elephant doc. Painting a portrait of the choreographer, Claire Duguet and Sophie Kovess-Brun recounted the unbelievable making-of story of La Ronde, from the very beginnings of the project to its final performance, as well as the impact of the successive lockdowns and limitations that rocked the production of the show many times over.

La Ronde was organised by the Réunion des musées nationaux Grand Palais and [terrain], with the exclusive support of CHANEL, and presented as part of the 49th edition of the Festival d'Automne in Paris. The project was co-produced by the Ile-de- France region, the Direction Générale de la Création Artistique Ministry of Culture, the Festival d Automne in Paris, le phénix scène nationale de Valenciennes pôle européen de création and NEXT Festival and the Compagnie de l'Oiseau Mouche.

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