gogoparis.com » Dance

‘A Movie Star Needs A Movie’

kvdb — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:11:00 +0000

A Movie Star Needs A Movie, which premiered last Oct at The New Museum in New York City, comes to the contemporary dance and performance festival Artdanthé in Vanves on Thursday, as part of their Focus New York program. A darkly satirical new work by choreographer Jack Ferver about the relationship between shallow ambition and fame, A Movie Star Needs A Movie critically engages the tricky issue of culpability in a viewer’s gaze and the inescapable self mythologies that emerge when calling oneself an artist (i.e., the performance of identity). With every emotional nuance enlarged to grotesque proportions and projected onto a wall via live-feed, Ferver approaches these concerns head-on and without shame, challenging you to watch and daring you to look away. The New York Times wrote ‘While he constructs and subverts identity, presenting and manipulating images of sexuality, abuse, and self love, those of us watching are implicated in his physically raw, violent works. We can’t look away, and naturally, we don’t want to’. The piece features music by Sebastian Tellier and Chris Lancaster.
(Thu 25 Mar, 7.30pm, 15€/12€. Salle Panopée, Théâtre de Vanves)

‘OUT OF CONTEXT’ BY LES BALLETS C DE LA B

j.phelan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:12:46 +0000

In contrast to previous productions by Belgian contemporary dance company Les Ballets C de la B, in their new work Out of Context there’s no live band (vsprs), no opera singers (pitié!), and no trained dogs (Wolf). Instead, choreographer Alain Platel has sought to ‘return to the fundamentals of dance’: no narrative, few clothes, little music, just nine of his dancers and the spasmodic, ‘ecstatic’ style they’re famous for. Stripped of any of the usual points of reference that orientate an audience, Out of Context becomes a reflection on performance itself and the privileged space it provides for the dancers’ extreme, unexpected and otherwise inexplicable movements. Somewhere between animals, puppets and inmates, they dance as if compelled by their own obscure momentum, even when coinciding with their fellows in surreal pas de deux and group formations. It’s frequently unnerving, occasionally frustrating, but genuinely humorous, and surprisingly moving.
Until 13 Feb, 8.30pm.
www.theatredelaville-paris.com

HOMMAGE A MERCE CUNNINGHAM

kvdb — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:38:36 +0000

When Merce Cunningham died at the end of July this year, aged 90, the Théâtre de la Ville was already preparing a tribute to the iconoclastic choreographer, as part of the Festival d’Automne. The homage has turned into an adieu and provides testament to Cunningham’s enduring importance in the world of contemporary dance. The 2-week program opens with Nearly 902, the final piece the wheelchair-bound choreographer finished, just before his last birthday, using motion-simulation software to demonstrate his vision to his dancers. The following two pieces are responses to Cunningham’s legacy by younger choreographers: 50 ans de danse (Tue 8-Sat 12 Dec) has its starting point in a book of photographs of Cunningham’s work in performance, which Boris Charmatz recreates in dynamic form; while Cédric Andrieux (Thu 14-Sat 16 Dec) is a solo for the eponymous dancer by Jérôme Bel, reviewing Andrieux’s career and notably his eight years with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in New York. A useful companion to the performances is the biopic Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance, directed by former MCDC filmaker-in-residence Charles Atlas and screening, for free, in the Théâtre de la Ville’s basement (Tue 8-Thu 10 Dec). Atlas will also be at the Cinémathèque Française on Sun 13 Dec to introduce screenings of five of the ‘video dances’ he created in collaboration with Cunningham. Théâtre de la Ville also presents a free exhibition in its lobby of performance stills and posters (and those attending the screenings downstairs will also spot a collection of memorabilia related to Pina Bausch, another of modern dance’s recent losses). JP
Until 12 Dec
www.theatredelaville-paris.com/