Bastille Day felt a little bit different this year than others, said Violaine Huisman, the artistic director of New York’s annual Crossing the Line festival. L’Alliance, the French cultural center in Midtown, throws a party every July 14, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution. This year, the celebration took place just one week after a surprising snap election left President Emmanuel Macron — and France — in a state of flux.
“I overheard onlookers wondering out loud whether it was a French tradition to demonstrate with blank signs on that day,” recalled Huisman, who had just been in the country to witness the upset in the streets. (Many participants in this year’s festival opted to carry blank placards in homage to a demonstration created by the choreographer Anna Halprin during the civil rights and antiwar protests of the 1960s.)
During these times of uncertainty, many look to art for clarity and guidance. Huisman, 45, is certainly one of those people, as she has been hard at work curating programming for the next Crossing the Line, which kicks off several weeks of art, dance and theater on Sept. 5.
Ahead of the festival, Huisman tracked a few days of her cultural life, noting some of the performances, books and music, mostly from her native France, that inspired her. Here are edited excerpts from phone and email interviews.
Sunday: Placards for Peace
We celebrated Bastille Day at L’Alliance with a street fair and an amazing piece of performance art, in which two dozen volunteers carrying blank placards engaged in a procession through Midtown, trailed by a marching band. It was a re-enactment by Anne Collod of Anna Halprin’s “Blank Placard Dance.” Volunteers asked audience members what they would march for. “Peace” was the overwhelming response.
It was the morning after my return from a curatorial trip to the big summer arts festivals in the south of France: Avignon, Arles, Aix, Marseille. My personal highlight was the premiere at LUMA Arles of William Kentridge’s “The Great Yes, the Great No,” a chamber opera that stages the flight of artists and intellectuals from Vichy France. It touched me deeply as it closely follows the saga of my own grandfather, whose story I recently turned into a novel.
Monday: The Art of Email
First day back at my desk. I like to think of answering emails as a writing practice. I took a break to greet Adam Linder, one of our Crossing the Line festival choreographers, who happened to be in town. We let him use our stage at L’Alliance “to try a few things,” as he put it.
I’d been longing for family dinners during my time away. I was excited to cook when I got home. I usually take over the kitchen to the soundtrack of Terrance McKnight on WQXR. It’s sometimes a bit of a fight with George, my 12-year-old, who prefers Olivia Rodrigo. Farm to People delivers a box to our Brooklyn home every Sunday full of local organic produce. Sissi, almost 10, plunders the cardboard to add to her castle, which is under construction.
Tuesday: Zidane Onscreen
Bringing international artists to New York presents a unique set of challenges every time. In the case of “Blank Placard Dance,” we secured visas for the traveling performers and recruited a cast of dancers, musicians and volunteers. I debriefed Bastille Day with our production manager, Clémentine Guinchat, and coordinator, Louise Bertin, who orchestrated it all.
In the evening, we screened “Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait,” by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno. I hadn’t seen it since its release in 2006. “My memories of games and events are fragmented,” the soccer star Zinedine Zidane says in a supertitle display. The film captures this sense with uncanny intimacy and grace.
Wednesday: ‘Hadestown’
My curatorial work at L’Alliance is in large part an ongoing conversation with Tatyana Franck, our president. We met to discuss Rencontres d’Arles, the French photography festival we’d attended. We agreed that Sophie Calle’s installation was a clear standout.
The day concluded with a long-planned family outing to “Hadestown,” which everyone loved. New York lacks ambitious affordable productions for families; it’s an area I hope to develop. In the fall, we’ll be presenting original choreography for 2-year-olds, “Le Petit B” by Marion Muzac. You can’t start them too young!
Thursday: ‘Sky Islands’
New York City is special for its extraordinary web of artists and cultural institutions. A week after our time at the Avignon Festival, Amy Cassello of BAM invited me to join her at Asia Society for the world premiere of “Sky Islands” by Susie Ibarra. Performances we attend as curators don’t necessarily have an end goal — they’re part of an ongoing research and education process (or supporting friends and colleagues, or just fun!).
Friday: ‘Day for Night’
I went to the Whitney Biennial with my daughter George. There we met Tamara McCaw, who is responsible for the quarterly Open Arms Resource Fair at the Shed, where George and I served as volunteer interpreters last spring.
From the museum’s windows, we could see Little Island, where George and I were going next to catch Pam Tanowitz’s “Day for Night.” The dance was exquisite, and it was a lovely surprise to discover Melissa Toogood performing a bonus encore. But my tween beauty was getting sleepy; she rested her head on my lap as the C train delivered us back to Brooklyn.
Saturday: Translation and Reading
On weekends, I turn my attention to translations of two authors whom I’ve translated before: Maggie Nelson’s collected essays, “Like Love,” and Ben Lerner’s collected poems, “The Lights.” I find translating invigorating, especially when I’m not working on my own creative project: It’s great intellectual exercise, and it allows me to keep my creative writing practice current.
And so does reading. Among my livres de chevet (books on my night stand) are “Royan” by Marie NDiaye, “By Heart” by Tiago Rodrigues, “The Brush” by Eliana Hernández-Pachón, “Wrong Norma” by Anne Carson, “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler, and “Mr. B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century” by Jennifer Homans.
Sunday: Asanas
Both my mother and grandmother were classical dance instructors, and for most of my adult life, attending a ballet class was my only workout. When I became pregnant, I started studying Pilates with Jamie Dowd, with whom I then founded The Floor. Through the studio I started practicing yoga. Now I tend to start my day with asanas.
After my Ashtanga routine, I welcomed Ruth Childs, visiting from Switzerland and on her way to performing at Watermill’s summer gala. Being offered a chance to show loyalty in support of artists is a rare privilege in my position as curator. In my diary entry list of reasons to be grateful, it’s close to the top.
