ロリータ・ダンスの再発見：パリの過激なダンス集団

Lolita Danse was a Paris-based performance collective formed in 1981. Hailing from as a far as Mexico, Brazil, Auvergne, and Catalonia, and as near as Bretagne, Vendée, Perpignan and Lorgues, its ten members – Catherine, Arnaud, Daria, Dominique, Santiago, Alain, Thierry, Eric, Marcia and Philippe – were united by a drive to topple conformist homogeneity and hierarchy in dance (and in life) and create through, and according to, difference. Some were lighting designers, trained dancers, others had backgrounds in set design, music and costume. They made films, records, theatre works and everything in between. Lolita was a laboratory for experimentation, and in 1980s France, the time was ripe: the post-1968 revolutionary spirit still fizzed in the air, post-punk movements held sway, musically, the New Wave was emerging, and a surge of collectives were shaking up the world of dance. It was still possible to dream of changing the world.

Lolita Danse, published by Mess (the new publishing house of studio Mestiza Estudio), celebrates the Lolita years through an uncovering of the group’s archives. Hundreds of previously unpublished documents – notebooks, texts, photographs – retrace ten years of collective imagination. This first book dedicated to the collective invites us to discover the freedom, passion and creative force that shaped the Lolita era, and their continued legacy today.  

1. Lolita Danse was a collective of ten 

While respecting each person’s identity, autonomy and expertise, the collective necessitated that each member transcend individual ego to create together. Not averse to contradiction, the tenet of irrepressible freedom entailed some hard rules to follow too. Early in their formation they drew up a charter (although nowhere to be found now, it lives in the memory of the surviving members): “Everyone does what they want, as long as it’s useful to the group and enjoyable”; “Lolita exists only through its travels. It can represent itself alone, or with everyone, and with even more people, as long as it retains the freedom of choice, respected by its members”, ultimately, Lolita was about discovery and exchange, a creative laboratory where everything was questioned without taboos. Then, as is de rigueur now, most dance companies still operated according to an individual originary founder, but in post-68 Paris, there emerged Les Ballets de la Cité – a cooperative founded by Catherine Atlani – alongside Beau Geste and Four Solaire. By 1981, upon the election of president François Mitterrand and culture minister Jack Lang, the culture budget doubled, and contemporary dance really began to thrive. Research conducted by Lolita’s Dominique found around forty French dance collectives were active in the 70s and 80s. The collective legacy of Lolita can be found in today’s (La)Horde (for whom Lolita’s Eric is lighting designer). 

2. They were followers of Alwin Nikolais 

While not all members were dancers, several of the group had studied under choreographer Alwin Nikolais at the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers. There, Santiago – then working with Quentin Rouilier and Susan Buirge – would meet Marcia and Alain, as well as Dominique and Catherine. A great ‘American master’, himself the disciple of modern dance pioneer Hanya Holm, Nikolais had in the 60s begun combining electronic sound, light shows and experimental costumes (inspired by his early career in puppetry), leading him to be dubbed “father of multi-media theatre”. Invited to CNDC as part of a government effort to develop new French choreographers and encourage the spread of the arts outside Paris, Nikolais’ pedagogy advanced techniques that were focused on shape, motion, time and space. The Lolitos were smitten. Inspired by Nikolais’ effervescent post-disciplinary approach and fervent opposition to egocentricity in dance, the chosen family of Lolita Danse found their chosen father in the family tree of modern dance.

3. Their references were eclectic

Lolita’s references and inspirations were eclectic, picking and choosing from high and low-brow culture. Their music tastes ranged from Kurt Weill to Tuxedo Moon, via Edith Piaf, Billie Holiday and Balinese gamelan; their aesthetic sensibilities were every bit as far-reaching. For these to be brought into visio-spatial dialogue, that is, to co-exist within the footprint of a stage or frame of a film, Lolita composed their performance works by way of montage. A ‘free structure’ pioneered by Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein, montage understood creation (synthesis) to be born of destruction (antithesis) and so was the perfect form for this group of troublemakers. What’s more, montage situates the audience in a privileged role as co-creator (or conspirator) of meaning, something fundamental to Lolita’s democratic approach to performance as something not for the entertainment of elites but fair game for all.

4. The street was their stage 

Lolita believed everything could be dance, and everyone could be on stage. It followed that dance could also happen off stage. At the start of each run of their “Who Killed Lolita?”, the three members of the collective who were in the control room would go out onto the street and mingle with the audience waiting to get in. To disrupt the atmosphere they’d play pranks, Santiago would pretend to be blind and blend into the crowd. These acts epitomised their mischievous position somewhere between structure and spontaneity. And nor were they beholden to the grand theatre auditorium, performing in carparks, bedrooms and street corners, they also produced performances in the form of sound installations, events, videos and films.

5.  Lolita clowned in Christian Lacroix

The fashion designer Christian Lacroix, assisted by Sylvie Skinazi, produced eighty magnificently outlandish costumes for Lolita’s 1986 Zoospie Comedi. Christian and Sylvie would come to the Ménagerie de Verre, where the Lolitos were rehearsing, and meet each member individually so that they could explain the significance of each scene. Alain recalled presenting his solo ‘The Ibex’: “I was naked; Lacroix’d put clogs on my feet and a tail down my back.” Sylvie Skinazi continued to work with them on the subsequent Mouse Art (1987) and the group remained in touch with Lacroix. In a later interview, Lacroix admitted, “It’s much more difficult to design for ballet than to design a fashion collection […] You have to be much more humble because you are part of the group. There is not the selfish pleasure of designing my own dreams.” Lolita Danse revelled in that difficulty, while humble is up for question, they were committed to designing their utopian dream together. 

Lolita Danse is published by Mass and is out now. 

Lolita Danse was a Paris-based performance collective formed in 1981. Hailing from as a far as Mexico, Brazil, Auvergne, and Catalonia, and as near as Bretagne, Vendée, Perpignan and Lorgues, its ten members – Catherine, Arnaud, Daria, Dominique, Santiago, Alain, Thierry, Eric, Marcia and Philippe – were united by a drive to topple conformist homogeneity and hierarchy in dance (and in life) and create through, and according to, difference. Some were lighting designers, trained dancers, others had backgrounds in set design, music and costume. They made films, records, theatre works and everything in between. Lolita was a laboratory for experimentation, and in 1980s France, the time was ripe: the post-1968 revolutionary spirit still fizzed in the air, post-punk movements held sway, musically, the New Wave was emerging, and a surge of collectives were shaking up the world of dance. It was still possible to dream of changing the world.

Lolita Danse, published by Mess (the new publishing house of studio Mestiza Estudio), celebrates the Lolita years through an uncovering of the group’s archives. Hundreds of previously unpublished documents – notebooks, texts, photographs – retrace ten years of collective imagination. This first book dedicated to the collective invites us to discover the freedom, passion and creative force that shaped the Lolita era, and their continued legacy today.  

1. Lolita Danse was a collective of ten 

While respecting each person’s identity, autonomy and expertise, the collective necessitated that each member transcend individual ego to create together. Not averse to contradiction, the tenet of irrepressible freedom entailed some hard rules to follow too. Early in their formation they drew up a charter (although nowhere to be found now, it lives in the memory of the surviving members): “Everyone does what they want, as long as it’s useful to the group and enjoyable”; “Lolita exists only through its travels. It can represent itself alone, or with everyone, and with even more people, as long as it retains the freedom of choice, respected by its members”, ultimately, Lolita was about discovery and exchange, a creative laboratory where everything was questioned without taboos. Then, as is de rigueur now, most dance companies still operated according to an individual originary founder, but in post-68 Paris, there emerged Les Ballets de la Cité – a cooperative founded by Catherine Atlani – alongside Beau Geste and Four Solaire. By 1981, upon the election of president François Mitterrand and culture minister Jack Lang, the culture budget doubled, and contemporary dance really began to thrive. Research conducted by Lolita’s Dominique found around forty French dance collectives were active in the 70s and 80s. The collective legacy of Lolita can be found in today’s (La)Horde (for whom Lolita’s Eric is lighting designer). 

2. They were followers of Alwin Nikolais 

While not all members were dancers, several of the group had studied under choreographer Alwin Nikolais at the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers. There, Santiago – then working with Quentin Rouilier and Susan Buirge – would meet Marcia and Alain, as well as Dominique and Catherine. A great ‘American master’, himself the disciple of modern dance pioneer Hanya Holm, Nikolais had in the 60s begun combining electronic sound, light shows and experimental costumes (inspired by his early career in puppetry), leading him to be dubbed “father of multi-media theatre”. Invited to CNDC as part of a government effort to develop new French choreographers and encourage the spread of the arts outside Paris, Nikolais’ pedagogy advanced techniques that were focused on shape, motion, time and space. The Lolitos were smitten. Inspired by Nikolais’ effervescent post-disciplinary approach and fervent opposition to egocentricity in dance, the chosen family of Lolita Danse found their chosen father in the family tree of modern dance.

3. Their references were eclectic

Lolita’s references and inspirations were eclectic, picking and choosing from high and low-brow culture. Their music tastes ranged from Kurt Weill to Tuxedo Moon, via Edith Piaf, Billie Holiday and Balinese gamelan; their aesthetic sensibilities were every bit as far-reaching. For these to be brought into visio-spatial dialogue, that is, to co-exist within the footprint of a stage or frame of a film, Lolita composed their performance works by way of montage. A ‘free structure’ pioneered by Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein, montage understood creation (synthesis) to be born of destruction (antithesis) and so was the perfect form for this group of troublemakers. What’s more, montage situates the audience in a privileged role as co-creator (or conspirator) of meaning, something fundamental to Lolita’s democratic approach to performance as something not for the entertainment of elites but fair game for all.

4. The street was their stage 

Lolita believed everything could be dance, and everyone could be on stage. It followed that dance could also happen off stage. At the start of each run of their “Who Killed Lolita?”, the three members of the collective who were in the control room would go out onto the street and mingle with the audience waiting to get in. To disrupt the atmosphere they’d play pranks, Santiago would pretend to be blind and blend into the crowd. These acts epitomised their mischievous position somewhere between structure and spontaneity. And nor were they beholden to the grand theatre auditorium, performing in carparks, bedrooms and street corners, they also produced performances in the form of sound installations, events, videos and films.

5.  Lolita clowned in Christian Lacroix

The fashion designer Christian Lacroix, assisted by Sylvie Skinazi, produced eighty magnificently outlandish costumes for Lolita’s 1986 Zoospie Comedi. Christian and Sylvie would come to the Ménagerie de Verre, where the Lolitos were rehearsing, and meet each member individually so that they could explain the significance of each scene. Alain recalled presenting his solo ‘The Ibex’: “I was naked; Lacroix’d put clogs on my feet and a tail down my back.” Sylvie Skinazi continued to work with them on the subsequent Mouse Art (1987) and the group remained in touch with Lacroix. In a later interview, Lacroix admitted, “It’s much more difficult to design for ballet than to design a fashion collection […] You have to be much more humble because you are part of the group. There is not the selfish pleasure of designing my own dreams.” Lolita Danse revelled in that difficulty, while humble is up for question, they were committed to designing their utopian dream together. 

Lolita Danse is published by Mass and is out now.