class="">Carolyn Carlson – „pioneer of the contemporary dance scene” – for the first time in Bucharest, as a guest of the NTF 2016

September 28^th 2016

An exceptional personality of the contemporary dance scene will be present at the 26^th edition of the National Theatre Festival: dancer and choreographer Carolyn Carlson / „a pioneer of the contemporary dance scene” / as she was named by Le Monde.

„It is an achievement for us to succeed in bringing Carolyn Carlson to Romania for the absolute first time- a dancer of great scope, rebel choreographer with an impressive activity, winner of numerous international awards for her refined and intense productions. We are extremely happy that she will present two of her creations in Bucharest, on October 25^th and 27^th. „Short Stories" is a collage of three miniature performances, all of them simply pieces of jewelry - Carolyn Carlson will perform one of these herself !,  whereas „Now“ is a the first dance performance of the newly created Carolyn Carlson Company, at the Théâtre de Chaillot  in Paris, in the fall of 2014.” (Marina Constantinescu) 

Born in California, Carolyn Carlson describes herself as a nomad, more than anything else. Her career in dance spans over five decades, with significant stops in key places, dancing key-parts and making determinant contributions to  American and European stages, she is a restless and indefatigable traveller, always in quest of discovery and development of her own poetic universe.

She came to France in 1971, carrying with her Alwin Nikolaïs ideas about movement, composition and study. The following year, Carolyn Carlson imagined, in “Rituel pour un rêve mort”,  a poetic manifesto describing her method that remains unchanged: dance and its strong connection to philosophy and spirituality. Whenever she speaks about her shows, she prefers to name them „visual poems” not  „choreographies”.

Carlson’s work was a resounding success all over Europe. Through GRTOP (Groupe de Recherches Théâtrales) she played a key-part in the birth of contemporary dance in France and Italy, at the Paris Opera Ballet and Teatrodanza at La Fenice.

She created over a hundred choreographic works, many of them remaining emblematic for the history of dance: “Density 21.5”, “The Year of the Horse”, “Blue Lady”, “Steppe”, “Maa”, “Signes”, “Writings on Water”, “Inanna”.

In 2006 Carolyn Carlson was the first choreographer to ever receive a Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale.

In 1999 she creates Atelier de Paris - Carolyn Carlson at the Théâtres de la Cartoucherie. In 2014, after a 9-year tenure heading the Centre Chorégraphique Roubaix Nord-Pas de Calais, she returns to Paris, to become associate artist at the Théâtre National de Chaillot, where she also starts her own company/ the Carolyn Carlson Company, at present the core of the Parisian choreographic scene. She gives workshops based on improvisation and the method of her mentor, Alwin Nikolaïs. With a unique repertoire, surrounded by dancers in a class of their own, Carolyn Carlson continues producing at least two ample performances every year, extensively touring to international festivals and presenting them worldwide.

The Carolyn Carlson Company dancers will present two of their works at the National Theatre Festival, Bucharest.

The performance „Short Stories” (Immersion, Burning, Li) is programmed on the fifth day of the NTF, October 25^th, at 21.00, at the Studio Hall of the National Theatre Bucharest.

Immersion (18 minutes)

Carolyn Carlson, the eternal “water lady”, embodies pure and unique dance like an expression of the continually metamorphosing movement of water. To the sound of waves, the choreographer immerses herself in its fluidity, its intense presence and its unfathomable depths.

 

 

Burning is  a 26 minutes solo dealing with the metamorphoses that happen in each step of life, Burning leads the spectator to a contemplative journey towards those things we have to "burn" inside ourselves in order to let go.

The 25 minutes duo Li is an ideogram which referred originally to the grain in jade and wood, the «organic pattern» in the principle of all things,  when one is in accord with the "Tao".

The watercourse of nature

The flowing of Wind

The dark and the light

The polarity of yin and yang

Becoming what one is the other

Without verbal comment.

 

On October 27th, at 21.00, on the same stage of the Studio hall of the National Theatre Bucharest, Carolyn Carlson will present  Now, a piece that premiered on November 6^th 2014, at the Théâtre National de la Danse Chaillot in Paris / and that bears strong influences of Gaston Bachelard’s “The Poetics of Space”.

„Why this particular work?” / Carolyn Carlson asks herself… „Because it is aimed at those indelible houses and places where we live, witnesses of the humanity’s intense aspiration to security and of its attachment to the development of the mysterious forces at the basis of the tangible reality of our profane and sacred values. An acknowledgement of our everyday lives in focus. The minuscule immensity of our presence in the Universe”.

An act in 7 metaphorical parts: the house, from the basement to the attic, the drawers, the chests, the cabinets locking away secrets, the nests and the cocoons, corners of solitude and dreams; from the minuscule to the intimate immensity; the eternal circle, inside and outside.

Each of the 7 parts will be cut through by a poem of Miłosz, Rilke, Baudelaire...

Hurricanes, storms and hailstorms haunt the “poetics of space”; all those quakes turn the most modest hut into a sturdy refuge. What Baudelaire uses in order to enlarge our comprehension of the house and the universe. The minuscule and the immensity.

Because dance is inherently wordless, this creation is no other than a participation to the continuous flow expressed by time and space. A one hour and twenty minutes long contemplative metaphor. (Carolyn Carlson)

SHORT STORIES

Immersion

Choreography and Interpretation: Carolyn Carlson

Original Score: Nicolas de Zorzi

An original production of the Centre Chorégraphique National Roubaix Nord-Pas de Calais, in collaboration with the Théâtre National de Chaillot  & Carolyn Carlson Company

18 min

Burning

Choreography: Carolyn Carlson

Cast (dancer): Won Myeong Won

Original Score: Meredith Monk
Production: Carolyn Carlson Company

Co-production: Adami marking its 60th anniversary, within the framework of Festival June Events - CDC Atelier de Paris-Carolyn Carlson.

With the support of Crédit du Nord

26 min

Li

Choreography: Carolyn Carlson

Cast (dancers): Chinatsu Kosakatani, Yutaka Nakata

Original Score: Aleksi Aubry-Carlson

An original production of the Centre Chorégraphique National Roubaix Nord-Pas de Calais, with the support of Quinzaine du Japon

Produced by: Carolyn Carlson Company

25 min

NOW

Choreography: Carolyn Carlson

Cast:

Constantine Baecher

Juha Marsalo

Céline Maufroid

Riccardo Meneghini

Yutaka Nakata

Sara Orselli

Sara Simeoni

Original Score: Colette Malye

Set Design: Maxime Ruiz (photos & video), Benoît Simon (video editing)

Costumes: Chrystel Zingiro

 

 

Executive Producer Théâtre National de Chaillot

In collaboration with the Carolyn Carlson Company

Coproduction Ballet du Nord -Centre Chorégraphique National Roubaix Nord-Pas de Calais /

L’Atelier à spectacle / La scène conventionnée de l’Agglo du Pays de Dreux

1h 20 min (no intermission)

Foto: Alain Fleischer / Laurent Phillipe / Florent Drillon Adami / M. Logvinov / Patrick Berger