Jeryl Brunner,
When Anne Tournié’s parents were getting married her father presented his soon-to-be wife with a book. He told her “this will be the guide for your life,” recalls Tournié, a director and choreographer. Her mother, in turn, introduced the book to Tournié, reading the novella to her young daughter before bedtime.
That book was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved novella, The Little Prince. The reflective and rich story centers around a young prince and his planet-trotting odyssey to find connection, understanding and ultimately love.
Tournié would grow up to adore The Little Prince as much as her parents and millions of others. “I was so touched with all the lines. They were very simple but also so deep,” she shares. “It became the book that was by my bedside and has always been with me through my life.”
Quotes from the book like “One runs the risk of crying a bit if one allows oneself to be tamed,” were particularly moving to Tournié. She adored the messages of respecting the planet and one another. “Everybody can understand the passages whether you are five or 100-years-old with a long life behind you,” she adds. “That is the miracle of the book.”
When looking to create a show with choreography and aerial artistry that addressed humanity and our connectedness as its underlying theme, Chris Mouron, Tournié’s longtime collaborator suggested adapting The Little Prince.
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