Centre chorégraphique national de Grenoble

The Grenoble National Choreographic Centre has worked constantly to extend the scope of dance through the creative and choreographic work that it has performed in France and worldwide for over 25 years (sixty pieces, from Daphnis et Chloé, Mammame, Yves P., Les Louves and Pandora in the ‘80s to 99 duos, Trois générations, Des Gens qui dansent and Cher Ulysse in the years 2000).

In its constant search for new links between creation and institution, the Grenoble NCC has met the requirements of a dual strategy: “to place dance in a dialogue, a dual movement, between its local and regional territory and the great national and international stages”. The NCC has always been keen to perform on other continents (especially in Asia, where it has some special relationships) and in front of audiences to be conquered within its immediate territory: small towns and villages in the Isère and neighbouring departments, stages set up for the occasion (village squares), venues given a new function (libraries, town hall reception rooms, etc).

If observers considered from the early ‘90s that the Grenoble National Choreographic Centre was a “driving force for artistic creation in the region”, this clearly means that its activities, far from the strict framework of stages, play a fully-fledged part in regional development policy: “dance consists of being attentive to other people’s territory”.

The NCC’s functions have broadened over time: training and monitoring dancers moving towards a professional career, hosting companies, cultural action, regular dance training courses, amateur workshops, work on images, production of short video films …

The Grenoble National Choreographic Centre is constantly looking for ways to develop and, in 2008, is embarking on a project known as “Cosmopolite studio”, which incorporates all the extensions required to place dance within the current of artistic thinking and, more generally, within that of a citizen debate.