Genre experimentation and contemporary dance in Jeanne et le garçon formidable

Scholars have shown the importance of popular music and songs in French cinema, but have given less attention to the role that dance plays in contemporary French musicals. Over a dozen recent French musical films include a good deal of genre experimentation. A few of these films stand out in their choice of danse contemporaine over the more traditional musical genre dance styles of jazz, ballet, partnered social dancing or, more recently, hip hop. In particular, Jeanne et le garçon formidable (Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau, 1998) reconciles cinephilic links to established musical cycles - predominantly those within the classical Hollywood model and the French musicals of Jacques Demy - with a more experimental stylistic incorporation of contemporary dance forms.