At the end of each year, Virginie Bienaimé imagines the show that will plunge the Grandes Écuries de Chantilly into the magic of the Christmas holidays. An imagination constantly renewed and nourished by the world of literature.
“I fell into the pot of the show from birth“, says Virginie Bienaimé. Her father, Yves Bienaimé created the horse museum in Chantilly in 1982, the year of his birth. “I was born with this museum. I grew up there and it was for me the place of hide and seek games as a child“.
In the family of the little Virginia horses hold a central place. Because his father, born with a defect of pronunciation, took refuge from childhood with this animal that he cherished all his life. In addition to the museum, the Bienaimé family also offers shows presented in the Grandes Écuries. Virginie learned to perform when she was barely 7 years old, first on foot, then on horseback as a teenager.
The other passion of this Isarian is literature. “Quite quickly I told myself that if I liked the stage and the books, then I liked the theater“. She trains in a school.”I learned a lot about myself, about the art of directing and about dramaturgy. This is what I wanted to bring when I came back to the stables“.
I do not ride a horse because it is a practice that cannot be done as an amateur. This implies a daily commitment to the horse.
Virginie BienaimeWomen’s tops – France 3 Hauts-de-France
Horse shows take place throughout the year at the Grandes Écuries. “I am carried by a team of formidable riders and I have the chance to be able to invite artists each year who inspire me in writing.“. Stories imagined and nourished by the characters who touch her in her readings and in those she shares today with her three children. In December 2021, she was inspired by the Toltec agreements to imagine Alana and the City of Opal. This summer, Totem said the cavalier peoples.
This winter is the universe of The little girl with matches that she wished to adapt for Berylune’s mirror. “I found it too dark so I rewrote it by bringing in characters from literature that I like or that I find in my children’s books“. Named in honor of the Misérables of Victor Hugo, Fantine, its main character will meet Ma Dalton. It also summons the figure of the mirror very present in the tales. “The novelty this year is perhaps that my proposal is more humorous and more theatrical than in previous years“.
With each new creation, the director trusts her team of riders and relies on their proposals. “They are devoted to their horse. It is a daily commitment that they have with their animal, both in terms of care and work.” she adds.
True to her love of boards, Virginie Bienaimé also organizes the festival The scene in the garden every summer at the Théâtre de la Faisanderie. A stage with a unique natural setting built in the heart of the vegetable garden of the princes. She then moves from shadow to light to embody characters from the classic texts that she loves.
The artist is grateful to be able to give free rein to her creation in such beautiful places. Even if the Chantilly estate has been her playground since childhood, she has not lost her wonder: “I feel at home, but when I enter the Great Stables it’s not like entering my kitchen“, she smiles, “even if I am there daily, each time I enter under the dome it is a great emotion“.
video length: 13min 00
Virginie Bienaimé was the guest of Haust feminine on Tuesday, December 13, 2023
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©France Televisions
Virginie Bienaimé was the guest of the Hauts feminine program broadcast on December 13, to see or see again above.