NIRMALA GLEYSE

DANSEUSE - CHOREGRAPHE DE TRADITION INDIENNE

PROFESSEUR CERTIFIEE (CHENNAI - INDE DU SUD)

Nirmala, danseuse de tradition indienne Bharatanatyam, Inde du sud, a créé de nombreux spectacles et participé

aux festivals internationaux d'Avignon, Rome, Edimbourg, Bratislava, Madras, Bombay, Madras, 

et enseigne à Marseille et à Paris,.

The dance theatre of India has brought one of its soloist Nirmala, ro the festival. Enormously expressive eyes tell the audience volumes. Each intricate movementof her face or hands is made to look easy and natural.
The evening Times - Edimbourgh

Nirmala brings her own inventiveness to the performance, whilst remainning minutely faithful to tradition. The movements are both precise and expressively relaxed.
The list Glasgow

Da tutto cio viene fuori uno spettacolo estremamente affascinante e accattivante : affascinanti le danze e la danzatruce Nirmala, le musiche e i costumi. Il centro - l'Aquila Roma

Nirmala, danseuse de rêves - "Le langage des mains, du corps, conduit le spectateur

dans les arcanes profonds de l'art et le font communiquer avec le monde des Dieux...

C'est ce qu'a réussi Nirmala". Var Matin

Ateliers de pratique artistique : l'étude des figures de danse, adavus ainsi que l'expression dansée utilisant les mudras, langage gestuel permettant de rentrer de plain-pied dans la mythologie Hindoue seront abordées durant cette saison. Nirmala aborde également une autre facette de l’âme indienne à travers le style de danse bollywood…

Nirmala enseigne aux adultes et aux enfants ainsi que dans les milieux scolaires

PATRICK GLEYSE 

DANSEUR - CHOREGRAPHE  - PROFESSEUR DIPLOME D'ETAT

DANSE DE L'INDE BHARATANATYAM, INDO-CONTEMPORAINE ET  CLASSIQUE

                 PATRICK  étudie la danse classique auprès de Titus et Elena Pomsar, méthode Vaganova, puis approfondit son art sous l'égide de Daniel Franck, professeur au Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris. Sa carrière de danseur commence chez Joseph Russillo, puis elle se développe dans la Compagnie "Théâtre du Silence", dirigée par Brigitte Lefèvre, avec des tournées en Extrême-Orient, en Inde, en Afrique ainsi qu'aux Antilles. Maurice Béjart l'engage dans les "Ballets du XXe Siècle" où il danse les principales créations du répertoire à Bruxelles, au Japon, à New York…

Professeur Diplômé d'Etat, Patrick enseigne la Danse classique telle qu'elle lui a été transmise par Daniel Franck, danseur et professeur au Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, et la danse classique de l'Inde du sud, le Bharatanatyam. 

                  Son récent parcours de chorégraphe et d’enseignant  est : la Martinique, Marseille, Toulon, Nîmes, Paris, Nasik, Chennai, l'Alliance française de Madras pour résidences artistiques (Inde), … 

 Son expérience artistique s'enrichit lorsqu'il s'initie à la danse classique de l'Inde du sud, le bharatanatyam, auprès de NIRMALA et se produit sur scène en duo avec des musiciens indiens dans des récitals traditionnels…

« Le style de ce danseur se révèle lorsque, à travers des compositions chorégraphiques traditionnelles,

il crée son Temple Intérieur où peuvent cohabiter deux traditions, occidentale et indienne...

Une alchimie du corps et de l'esprit qui fait tomber toute frontière »

« Patrick Gleyse, en abordant le Bharatanatyam, donne à cette danse une ampleur reconnue et fort appréciée dans les différents pays où il se produit. Son passé artistique occidental et son élan vers la culture indienne confèrent à sa danse une ouverture, une dimension spirituelle non seulement dans son théâtre dansé, abhinaya, mais également dans les séquences purement dansées. »

NIRMALA

DANCER AND CHOREOGRAPHER 

IN THE INDIAN TRADITION

CERTIFIED TEACHER FROM INDIA

NIRMALA holds a post-graduate degree in German, English and Indian Studies (Philosophy, Sanskrit). She is a disciple of M.K. Saroja and of the late V.S. Muthuswamy Pillai who taught her Abhinaya (Dance Drama) and the art of rhythmic sequences, in Madras (Chennai). Nirmala, a pioneer of Bharatanatyam in the South of France, has gained a reputation for her rhythmic virtuosity and her precise abhinaya. Her graceful poses are enhanced by the evocative power of the mudras (hand language).

    Nirmala founded the Company BALLET INDEUROP' with partner Patrick Gleyse. She works as a performer, a choreographer and she manages dancers and musicians in the various productions of the dance company.

Nirmala has participated in numerous festivals in India and in France: "Festival Indien -Paris 18"; "Festival de Tanjore"; 'Festival International de Madras" ( Chennai, Bharatanatyam birthplace); "Musiques sacrées du monde" (Sacred Music of the World) in Saint Pons; "Le Roi des Aulnes" and "Danses au Crépuscule" (Dances at Twilight) in Saint Martin de Crau, festivals sponsored by the "Conseil Général des Bouches-du-Rhône"; "Indo-French Festival of Nasik"; "Mai-diterranée" at the Théâtre Toursky in Marseille; Festival Off, Avignon; "Arts et Festins du Monde", in Gardanne; Festival "Fêtes de la Danse" in Arques; "Les semaines de la danse" (Weeks of Dancing) in Saint Martin-les-Boulogne in the North of France; Centre Mandapa in Paris.

    Nirmala goes to India annually to nurture the links between both cultures by promoting the sharing of art and creativity. She hires young talented dancers willing to join the dance company. She collaborated as an artist in residence with French Alliance of Chennai in order to produce the Ballet "AKSHARA" and also partnered with Pondicherry and Pune French Alliances.

Nirmala engages in pedagogical projects particularly in schools in Paris, where she teaches Indian dance to 8 to 11 year old pupils. Recently, she has choreographed two dance programs for young audiences, "The Garland of Seven Notes" and "Krishna, The Child Musician" with carnatic vocalist, Audrey Premkumar.

    Within the frame of cultural exchange between India and France, Nirmala has, for 5 years, been organizing "The May of India", after school program at "Le Centre Fissiaux", a social and cultural center in Marseille. There, she introduces children to the rhythmic patterns and hand gestures of Indian dance. She also regularly welcomes to Marseille members of a cultural group from the Maharashtra State: the “Indo-French Cultural Association”, from Nasik, directed by Pr Deepak Magare, in order to promote mutual understanding between cultures through the practice of dance.

     Nirmala has added a new piece to her choreography,

"Bharatanatyam and Bollywood forever",

   which shows her willingness to remain connected with her time and with contemporary India.

    Nirmala choreographed with North and South Indian musicians two dance shows, "Divinités des eaux et des bois" and "Mirabhakti" for the "Musiques sacrées du monde" and "Territoire et Patrimoine" Festivals. Watching these performances, one can perceive the objective behind the choreographic work: to step out of the well-trodden path while perpetuating and enhancing the style of Muthuswamy Pillai.

Nirmala, along with partner Patrick Gleyse, gives a new direction to Indian Dance

while remaining faithful to its traditional roots,

through developing the new concept of "Indeurop’ Ballet".

PATRICK GLEYSE

Dancer / Choreographer / Teacher (state diploma)

Indian classical dance Bharatanatyam,  Indo-Contemporary style and Ballet

                                          PATRICK GLEYSE studied ballet with Titus and Elena Pomsar (Vaganova method) in Marseille, then with Daniel Franck, dance teacher at the "Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris"(Paris Opera method). He started as a professional dancer with Joseph Russillo, then pursued his dance career with the "Théâtre du Silence" Company (Merce Cunningham style) directed by Brigitte Lefèvre. With this dance company, he went on a tour throughout East Asia and India, Africa and the Caribbean Islands. Afterwards, he was selected by Maurice Béjart to participate in the "Ballets du XX^ème Siècle" ("Ballets of the Twentieth Century") that took him to Brussels, Japan, New-York...where he danced in the main productions.

Then he studied Bharatanatyam with Nirmala, dancer & Choreographer and a disciple of the late guru V.S. Muthuswamy Pillai. He left for India in 1991 with Nirmala in order to further his studies with V.S. Muthuswamy Pillai and choreographed "SADHANA", the first "Indeurop’" production which epitomizes the meeting of Western dance and Bharatanatyam.

    Patrick travels regularly to South India with Nirmala, to collaborate with local artists and in order to discover new talented musicians and dancers who, after some training into the Indeurop' style, take part in the productions.

He has performed with Nirmala in numerous festivals: "Festival de Tanjore"; "Festival International de Madras"; "Musiques sacrées du monde" (Sacred Music of the World) in Saint Pons; "Le Roi des Aulnes" and "Danses au Crépuscule" (Dances at Twilight) in Saint Martin de Crau, festivals sponsored by the "Conseil Général des Bouches du Rhône"; "Indo-French Festival of Nasik"; "Mai-diterranée" at the Théâtre Toursky in Marseille. He has also danced in Tamil Nadu Temples.                                         

    His last productions: AKSHARA, INDANSE, SON OF SHIVA were created on a soundtrack mixing Western and Indian music. Through his work, Patrick seeks to bridge the gap between France and India, on an artistic level, by encouraging Indian and French performers to meet together, to share their knowledge and to create choreography with a universal message. These productions, which are presented mainly at the "Théâtre Toursky" in Marseille and on a tour in various cities in Provence, in the Alps Region, and in India, are very well appreciated by audiences.

Moreover, Patrick who holds a French national diploma in classical ballet is running ballet and Bharatanatyam classes and workshops, in France. He has been requested to teach this discipline to students in various public or private schools, in India: Nasik colleges for instance, in collaboration with the “Indo-French Cultural Association”, directed by Pr Deepak Magare, as well as at the French Alliance, in Chennai. This kind of exchange is being renewed every year. He has collaborated with the Chennai French Alliance as an artist in residence in order to produce the Ballet "AKSHARA" and he has also performed at Pondicherry and Pune French Alliances.

    “Patrick Gleyse is the only dancer, who after having performed with Maurice Béjart, the Ballets of the 20th century, with Brigitte Lefèvre, the "Theatre of Silence", with Joseph Russillo, "Ballet Theatre" and a variety of Operas, devotes himself entirely to Bharatanatyam, a classical dance form of South India, a dance considered sacred, several thousand years old, whose master is Shiva, the Lord of Cosmic Dance.”                                                  

“By taking up Bharatanatyam, Patrick has brought to this dance a renown that makes it recognised and greatly appreciated in the various countries where it is performed. His artistic Western background and his passion for Indian culture, endows his dance with an opening out, a spiritual dimension, not only in the dramatic aspect of the dance, abhinaya, but also in the exclusive dance sequences."                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

"The style of this dancer is revealed through his traditional choreographical compositions, whereby he creates his Interior Temple where two traditions, Western and Indian can live in perfect harmony… Alchemy of the body and the soul that breaks all barriers…”                                      

Patrick Gleyse, along with dance partner Nirmala,

Has used his knowledge of both Indian and European cultures

 To develop his dance style,

Indeurop in its form, and universal in its content.