THE PIGEON DANCE

In 1976, Josiane Bal, then director of the Ballet National Folklorique du Luxembourg, created La Danse du Pigeon, an operatic ballet centred on a pigeon’s fantasies of being crushed by a goat. A Luxembourgish cult figure, she brought forth one of the company’s most singular and mythical works. Its legacy remains inseparable from the tragic circumstances of her death during its first performance, after which the ballet survived only in fragments and contested memories. Now, on the 50th anniversary of La Danse du Pigeon and in memory of Josiane Bal’s death, Simone Mousset, the company’s new Executive Director, returns to the stage to reawaken this radiant jewel of Luxembourgish folklore, with a newly composed score by French composer Nosfell.

The Ballet National Folklorique du Luxembourg is the leading contemporary folkloric dance company in Luxembourg and collaborates with Simone Mousset Projects, which is supported by the Ministry of Culture of Luxembourg. Simone Mousset is supported in France by the Fondation Cléo Thiberge Edrom.