Carnac takes its turn in the Presqu’île Breizh festival, a Breton music event gathering the cercles and bagads of Brittany and beyond. On the Grande Plage the cercle de Lorient performs as Celtique Bugale an Oriant. The Koroll GR34 project then opens twenty-six emblematic Breton dances to anyone who wants to try them. Thirty women pipers of the Hundred Percent collective parade up Rue Saint-Cornély to the Place de l’Église.
Tag: traditional-dance
Autumn fest-noz for Patrick Galopin, Plouezoc’h
Plouezoc’h holds its autumn fest-noz in honour of Patrick Galopin, and the bill is built the way a fest-noz is built: soneri and kaneri, the pipers and the singers whose playing the dancing follows. The Maison des Associations fills with dancers in sets, behind whichever couple is on. Crêpes go out on site through the evening. The tribute is to a musician the commune knew, which makes this a local gathering and not a programmed concert.
Fest-noz des 25 ans de Skol ar Yezhoù, à Pabu
The parents of Skol ar Yezhoù, the bilingual school at Pabu, hold their fest-noz for the school’s twenty-fifth year. Four sets share the night. BLUE GLAZ brings five women singers of the Breton scene, and KERLOA a trio of the Goëlo that sets treujenn-gaol beside accordion and guitar. MARTIN / PINC play violin and accordion; GEORGELIN / BARBIER answer on bombarde and biniou, for the dancers. The schoolchildren take their part too.
Fest-deiz au Danouët, Bourbriac
A fest-deiz is an afternoon of dancing, run here by the association restoring the chapelle Notre-Dame du Danouët. An open stage gives the floor to local players, among them the Musiciens du Danouët, and a jam open to any musician closes the day. The repertoire is the plinn, the dance that names the hamlet’s own festival. The associations behind that festival take the afternoons in turn, from the Cavan sound centre to the Guingamp hospitaliers.
Sorcière, de l’ombre à la lumière par Avel Douar
The figure at the centre is the Breton witch, followed from Naïa to the women of today. Avel Douar, the cercle celtique that performs it, sets that passage to dance and music together. The route of the piece runs through ancient beliefs, then nature, then modernity, so the sorceress emerges as a thread in Breton belief and never as a seasonal costume. It is staged in the town hall of Saint-Malo-de-Beignon and is open to all ages.
Tout est bon dans Le Breton !, a bigoudène duel
Maiween and Marie-Yvonne are billed as the last two bigoudènes of their region, and they are fighting over the right to carry l’esprit bigouden to the ONU. The Comédie du Finistère sets the quarrel on the small port of Guilvinec, where the pair feed Kouign-Amann to the gulls. It gets settled by contests: the sturdiest crêpe, a Gavotte danced in the Fest-Noz, the biggest haul of bigorneaux. The company signs the result a comédie armoricaine.
Danses bretonnes pour enfants avec Danserien Sant Ke
Danserien Sant Ke is the cercle de danse bretonne of Saint-Quay-Portrieux, and it opens its practice to the youngest beginners. The cercle’s own members lead the figures, so children pick up the steps from the people who perform them. It is held in the Salle le Celtic, where the cercle also holds its galette des rois. Admission costs nothing and places are held by reservation. The same cercle runs the Festival Eskemm.
Fest-noz à Taupont with Les Beurbis Gallèzes
Taupont, inland Morbihan, gives its salle Lenivel over to a fest-noz, the Breton dance evening where the music is played for the dancers. Three bands follow one another on the bill: Les Beurbis Gallèzes, Harold Kotri and Ferzae. The programme is the traditional repertoire that carries Breton dances, sung as well as played. The organisers put the invitation plainly: come and dance, sing and share a moment of conviviality.
Fest-Deiz with Anne-Marie Nicol and Gwénaëlle Pineau
Two players carry the whole dance floor at the salle du Groëz Ven in Ploemel, where the association Dalc’h Atau runs its fest-deiz. Anne-Marie Nicol takes the bombarde and Gwénaëlle Pineau the accordéon diatonique. The reed answers the bellows across the hall, about the leanest line-up a Breton dance floor can run on. The pair set the dances and the room answers, step for step.
Fest noz à Plédran : Carré Manchot, Sterne, Le Bour Bodros
A fest noz fills the Horizon hall in Plédran, a municipal venue that bills the night for all audiences. Three groups share it: Carré Manchot, Sterne and the duo Le Bour Bodros. Carré Manchot has spent four decades animating festoù-noz, while Sterne and the duo each bring long stage records of their own. Refreshments and light snacks are served on site, so dancers can stay the course.