I have to work through this artifact to give the viewer pleasure, and I am proud that I am able to transmit this beauty to young people who have never seen Carmen Amaya, for instance. You can sense her spirit as it is preserved on film. With dance films the essence of dance changes. Going from the ephemeral, dance becomes eternal, and it stays in the mind forever. That's why dance films can't be equivalent to dance itself.
Film catches a glimpse of eternity, but one loses the beauty of the ephemeral.
Between the two poles, you have the mystery of dance films. Mr. Bensard came to his philosophical bent early. At the Lyc e Carnot, a prime influence was a teacher, Gilles Sandier, also a well-known literary critic. He started taking dance photographs and worked as an apprentice at Magnum, the photo agency. Repeated stays in New York in the 1970's included a year and a half with a girlfriend who introduced him to the choreographer Erick Hawkins.