Several times Maison de la Danse’s guest, Deborah Colker returns with her recent creation Cão sem plumas, which breaks out from her previous pieces, from her climbing wall in Velox to her performances for the Cirque du Soleil or for the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympic Games. Cão sem plumas, by the poet João Cabral de Melo Neto, commemorates the beginning of mythology of the Capibaribe river, yet evokes all the rivers of the world between pure realism and lyrical idealisation. Here present are life’s essential values and questions, particularly disinterest in nature, geographic and human alike.  The choreographer offers a new script which blends poetry and cinema with a compelling film by Cláudio Assis.  Over the course of this poem written in 1950 -and that of a dried up river in the heart of the state of Pernambuco -she creates a performance of thirteen androgynous dancers covered in mud; crab men who are trying to survive in an abused environment.  She presents her own vision of Brazil with a mix of ballet, contemporary dance, and ritual and popular dances, such as coco or jongo, with total mastery of her art.

Source: Maison de la Danse de Lyon

It was not merely by chance that restlessness and a love of cultural diversity became features of Deborah Colker’s work. Raised in the solitude of classic piano study and the excitement of a collective sport – volleyball, the Rio born choreographer was initiated into contemporary dance by Uruguayan Graciela Figueiroa and her group Coringa, famous in Rio de Janeiro in the 1980s. In 1984, at the invitation of Dina Sfat, an actress of mythological contours in Brazilian theater, she started what was to become the principal element of her career for the next ten years – director of movement – a title especially coined for her by stage director Ulysses Cruz, to underline the relevance of her share in the final results of dozens of theatrical productions in which she collaborated during this period.  The title, which was later incorporated into Brazilian theatrical jargon, can also be applied precisely to her role, for example, in creating movements for the dog characters in TV Colosso – a landmark in Brazilian children’s TV programs in the 1990s.                                    

Before and after founding, in 1994, the company that carries her name, Deborah Colker also imprinted her mark on spheres as distinct as video clip, fashion, the cinema, the circus and showbiz. She also inscribed her name in the history of the greatest show for the masses on earth – the parade of the Samba Schools in Rio de Janeiro, major symbol of Rio’s Carnival, to which she contributed repeatedly, choreographing the “comissões de frente” or leading dance groups, for famous names such as Mangueira, Unidos do Viradouro, and more recently Imperatriz Leopoldinense.

Widely recognized among international critics, the excellence of her work as a choreographer was rewarded in 2001 with the Laurence Olivier Award in the category “Oustanding Achievement in Dance".
 
Five years later, this brought an invitation from FIFA to create the only dance performance to figure in the cultural activities connected to the 2006 World Cup in Germany –Maracanã – incorporated later into the Cia Deborah Colker repertoire under the title of Dinamo.

In 2009, she choreographed the new show for the Cirque de Soleil – "Ovo", an entertaining voyage into the world of insects.

One of the greatest honors, to be Director of Movement of the Olympic Games of Rio 2016 showing a representative visual spectacle of the energy of the Brazilian people. This show also included iconic elements of her work as a choreographer.

Source : Cie Deborah Colker 's website

More information

ciadeborahcolker.com.br 

Born in 1977, Fabien Plasson is a video director specialized in the field of performing arts (dance , music, etc).

During his studies at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (joined in 1995) Fabien discovered video art. He was trained by various video artists (Joel Bartoloméo Pascal Nottoli , Eric Duyckaerts , etc).
He first experimented with the creation of installations and cinematic objects.

From 2001 to 2011, he was in charge of Ginger & Fred video Bar’s programming at La Maison de la Danse in Lyon. He discovered the choreographic field and the importance of this medium in the dissemination, mediation and pedagogical approach to dance alongside Charles Picq, who was a brilliant video director and the director of the video department at that time.

Today, Fabien Plasson is the video director at La Maison de la Danse and in charge of the video section of Numeridanse.tv, an online international  video library, and continues his creative activities, making videos of concerts, performances and also creating video sets for live performances.

Sources: Maison de la Danse ; Fabien Plasson website

More information: fabione.fr