World famous choreographer and teacher Carolyn Carlson leads one-day masterclass in Zodiak. Masterclass is co-organized with Tero Saarinen Company.
In this unique course Carolyn Carlson collaborates with musician Mikko-Ville Luolajan-Mikkola. They have previously created several stage creations together. Mikko-Ville Luolajan-Mikkola is known as a creative and versatile expert on electric violin, which will bring it’s own strong added value to the course.
TIME: 29.11.2012 from 10am to 4pm
PLACE: Balanssistudiot (big studio), Cable Factory, Staircase D, 4th floor
COURSE FEE: 85 €
Enrolment and additional information by 19.11.2012 katja.kirsi@zodiak.fi
Photo: Tero Saarinen Company / BLUE LADY 14
Choreographer: Carolyn Carlson
Photographer: Anna Solé
In Photo: Carolyn Carlson, Tero Saarinen
***
CAROLYN CARLSON, teacher
Throughout her own training, Carolyn Carlson came across brilliant dance teachers, from Anna Sokolov, the choreographer and teacher marked by her collaboration with Martha Graham, via Joan Woodbury, a pupil of Mary Wigman and pillar of dance education at the University of Utah, to Alwin Nikolais, for whom she was a dancer from 1965 to 1972. More than a technique, Nikolais passed on to Carlson a philosophy based on improvisation, choreographic composition and a concept of the dancing body according to four principles: time, space, form and continuity of movement. He also instilled in her the conviction that creation and learning are inseparable, that you only create because you discover.
Since then, Carolyn Carlson has become a creator and teacher in her own right. She has passed on her approach to movement as poetic gesture to several generations of dancers all over the world, particularly in France, Italy and Finland.
This passion for passing on led her to establish and direct a dance school in Venice, the Accademia Isola Danza, from 1999 to 2002. In 1999, she also founded the Atelier de Paris, an international training centre where the greatest masters come to impart their knowledge.
Guardians of Carlson’s dance idiom, those who perform in her pieces in turn acquire her liking for passing on. When on tour, the Company often organises masterclasses led by the choreographer and her performers alongside the shows.
Time, Space, Form and Perpetual Motion are the tools needed to create a graphic and poetic language. You have to be in contact with the world, aware of its sufferings, study the arts, music and poetry, be open to others and all these experiences will inspire your way of dancing. The richer your life, the richer your dance will be. An artist must have just one obsession in life: to touch people’s souls and reveal the share of poetry within them.This search for the invisible will help you rise up. We other dancers, we steal moments of grace from the universe. – Carolyn Carlson
California-born Carolyn Carlson defines herself first and foremost as a nomad. From San Francisco Bay to the University of Utah, from the Alwin Nikolais company in New York to Anne Béranger’s in France, from Paris Opera Ballet to Teatrodanza La Fenice in Venice, from the Théâtre de la Ville de Paris to Helsinki, from Ballet Cullberg to La Cartoucherie in Paris, from the Venice Biennale to Roubaix, Carlson is a tireless traveller, always seeking to develop and share her poetic universe.
She arrived in France in 1971 the beneficiary of Alwin Nikolais’s ideas about movement, composition and teaching. The following year, with Rituel pour un rêve mort, she wrote a poetic manifesto that defined an approach to her work that she has adhered to ever since: dance that is strongly oriented towards philosophy and spirituality. Carlson prefers the term ‘visual poetry’ to ‘choreography’ to describe her work. She creates works that express her poetic thoughts and a form of complete art within which movement occupies a special place.
For four decades, Carlson has had significant influence and success in many European countries. She played a key role in the birth of French and Italian contemporary dance through the GRTOP (theatre research group) at Paris Opera Ballet and Teatrodanza at La Fenice.
She has created over 100 pieces, a large number of which are landmarks in the history of dance, including Density 21.5, The Year of the Horse, Blue Lady, Steppe, Maa, Signes, Writings on Water and Inanna. In 2006, her work was rewarded with the first ever Golden Lion given to a choreographer by the Venice Biennale.
Career highlights
1965-1971 Soloist in the Alwin Nikolais company
1974-1980 Etoile-Chorégraphe (‘Star Choreographer’) at Paris Opera Ballet (GRTOP)
1980-1984 Artistic director of Teatrodanza La Fenice, Venice
1985-1991 Residency at the Théâtre de la Ville, Paris
1991-1992 Residency at the Finnish National Ballet and Helsinki City Theatre Dance Company
1994-1995 Artistic director of Ballet Cullberg, Stockholm
1999-2002 Artistic director of the dance section at the Venice Biennale
Since 1999 Artistic director of the Atelier de Paris-Carolyn Carlson
Since 2004 Director of the National Choreographic Centre Roubaix Nord-Pas de Calais
Landmark choreographies
Selection of key pieces from over 100 original works
Rituel pour un Rêve Mort Baldassari, Gallupi, Henry 1972, Festival d’Avignon
Density 21.5 Edgar Varese 1973, Opéra de Paris
Enivrez-vou Pierre Henry 1973, Festival Sigma, Bordeaux
Sablier prison John Surman 1974, Opéra de Paris
Il y a juste un instant Barre Phillips 1974, Opéra de Paris
L’Or des fous, Les Fous de l’or Igor Wakhevitch 1975, Opéra de Paris
X-land Phillips, Surman, Feichtner 1975, Festival d’Avignon
This, that, the other, the beginning and the end Igor Wakhevitch 1977, Opéra de Paris
The Year of the horse Jean Schwarz 1978, Opéra de Paris
Trio John Surman 1979, Scala de Milano
Slow, heavy and blue René Aubry 1980, Opéra de Paris
The Architects Jean-Sebastien Bach 1980, Opéra de Paris
Undici onde Jean Schwarz, René Aubry 1981, Teatro La Fenice, Venise
Underwood René Aubry 1982, Teatro La Fenice, Venise
Chalk Work Hans Joachim Roedelius 1983, Teatro La Fenice, Venise
Blue Lady René Aubry 1983, Teatro La Fenice, Venise
Still waters René Aubry, Jean Schwarz 1986, Théâtre de la Ville, Paris
Dark Joachim Kühn 1988, Théâtre de la Ville, Paris
Stepp René Aubry 1990, Théâtre de la Ville, Paris
Duo Carlson/Porta Michel Portal 1991, Théâtre de la Ville, Paris
Maa Kaija Saariaho 1991, Finnish National Ballet, Helsinki
Syyskuu Mikko-Ville Luolajan-Mikkola 1992, Helsinki City Theatre
Elokuu Mikko-Ville Luolajan-Mikkola 1992, Helsinki City Theatre
Don’t look back René Aubry 1993, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
Commedia Michel Portal 1993, Schauspielhaus, Hambourg
Sub Rosa Bryars, Oswald, Piazzola, Lurie 1995, Ballet Cullberg, Stockholm
Vu d’ici Gabriel Yared 1995, Théâtre de la Ville, Paris
Signes René Aubry 1997, Opéra de Paris
Dall’Interno Jean Schwarz, Bob Dylan 1988, Théâtre de la Ville, Paris
Man in a room Gavin Bryars 2000, Biennale de Venise
Light Bringers Philip Glass 2000, Biennale de Venise
J. Beuys song Giovanni Sollima 2001, Biennale de Venise
Writings on Water Gavin Bryars 2002, Biennale de Venise
Tigers in the Tea House John Boswell 2004, Atelier de Paris Carolyn Carlson
Inanna Armand Amar 2005, Centre Chorégraphique National, Roubaix
Double Vision Nicolas de Zorzi 2006, Centre Chorégraphique National, Roubaix
Hidden Kaija Saariaho 2007, Centre Chorégraphique National, Roubaix
Eau Joby Talbot 2008, Opéra de Lille
Le Roi penché René Aubry 2009, Centre Chorégraphique National, Roubaix
Mandala Michael Gordon 2010, Centre Chorégraphique National, Roubaix
we were horses (avec Bartabas) Philip Glass 2011, CCN, Bruay la buissière, Lyon, Monaco
Synchronicity Bryars, Balanescu, Waits, 2012, Centre Chorégraphique National, Roubaix, Cohen, de Zorzi…
Dialogue avec Rothko Jean-Paul Dessy 2013, CCN Roubaix, Manège de Mons