LA PETITE DANSEUSE

music for augmented reality

SAMPLE

Application & augmented reality

The Little Dancer ... at the Musée d'Orsay is the first episode of a series in augmented reality, based on a concept by graphic designer and director Gordon in collaboration with Marie Sellier and Sarah Silverblaat Blusser. Co-production: Lucid realities, Musée d'Orsay, France TV.

This France Television application for smartphones and iPads is distributed for free on the AppStore.

Go to the App

MUSIC

I collaborated in the augmented reality adventure of Edgar Degas' "La petite danseuse", by making an orchestra reduction and playing the piano of Offenbach's "La valse du Papillon". A big thank you to the director, Gordon, who invited me to participate in this beautiful project.

THE APP

Through your smartphone or tablet, the statue of the Little 14-year-old Dancer comes to life in your home, on the floor or a table. It takes you on an extraordinary journey through the paintings and sculptures of the Musée d'Orsay.

The little dancer, Marie, has fallen in love with the young imperial prince Eugène. To free him from his sculpted and frozen world, she must gather several ingredients of a magic potion with your help...

These ingredients are hidden in the works on display and you will have to solve several riddles with her. While following her graceful dances, you will discover the worlds created by the artists... funny, bizarre, mythological or downright terrifying!

With the little dancer Marie, children will discover art in a playful and educational way.

ANNECDOTE

Reducing an entire orchestra to a single instrument means capturing all of the musical intentions and movements of each desk and each bar, and then transcribing the result so that ten fingers can play it on a solo instrument. In other words, this kind of exercise is not done in 2 minutes :)

I worked on a reference recording of Offenbach's "Butterfly Waltz" performed by a symphony orchestra. This one had to contribute to support the video editing and the danced movements of the little dancer. It was therefore imperative that the piano playing follow very closely the multitude of tempo changes in the original recording.

Far from being a concert pianist, I encountered difficulties in reproducing certain nuances of the orchestra, in reproducing the power of the brass or the fortissimo of the ensembles, but finally, the danced movements and my piano gradually came together. Augmented reality then brought its share of magic!