NARCISSE-0 / first performed 2009

Conception Coraline Lamaison
Dance performance Kate Strong, Julien Andujar

"Narcisses-0" is an introduction to the triptych "Narcisses". It was specially written for Sujets à Vif at the Avignon Festival, where it was premièred in July 2009. The performer Kate Strong was its epicentre: the presentation of the theme is based on her performing career and her personality. Our aim was to reveal the narcissistic issues affecting the assumption of performance and the actress herself. In a distorted rapport with time, and based on the concept of the desire for eternity, this opens up spaces: possible places in which narcissism might incarnate. Thanks to Pierre Jodlowski's musical creativity, this rapport with time, with the distortion of passion, with emptiness, becomes palpable, is felt and resonates. It allows the audience to be immersed in a sensory world shared with the actress, while retaining an inquiring prehension. The original text has been enriched by Kate Strong, her life and the improvisations on the narcissistic theme which we have undertaken together. Kate Strong has been one of the greatest performers (dancer/actress) on the contemporary stage for over twenty years. The pieces she has performed, particularly during the 1980s, are among the defining works in the history of modern dance. The text which I have devised pays homage to her career and to those who have marked the way for her, but also throws into relief numerous narcissistic mechanisms which create the performer's narcissistic anxiety regarding decrepitude, the vanity of a career and finiteness. Here, Kate Strong is playing herself: the edges between performance, fiction and reality are constantly blurred. Moments of emptiness, distance, irony, humour, evocations, extracts from shows; Kate passes from one extreme to the other, clings to the audience, slips, loses her way…

Coraline Lamaison

Source: Maison de la Danse programming

Credits

Conception Coraline Lamaison texte Coraline Lamaison, Kate strong interprètes Kate strong, Julien Andujar création musicale Pierre Jodlowski décor Marie szersnovicz lumières Carlos stavisky régie sébastien Bétous

Video direction : Charles Picq
production : Maison de la Danse

Updating : April 2011

Trained at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique then at the Théâtre National, Toulouse, Coraline Lamaison started out as an actress. In 2002 she choreographed her first piece, “Étude pour un homme seul”, then directed and performed in “4.48 Psychose” by Sarah Kane. In 2004, she trained with Jan Fabre, whom she assisted in the staging of “L'Empereur de la perte” and “Le Roi du plagiat” performed for in “The Crying Body” and “L'Histoire des larmes”. At the same time, she collaborated with Guy Cassiers alongside the actor Dirk Roofthooft for “Rouge décanté”. Currently based in Toulouse, she continues her collaboration with Troubleyn/Jan Fabre. She has created a triptych which explores the myth of Narcissus, “Narcisses-0”, for Kate Strong in 2009, “Ex-Stase Narcisses-1” in 2010, and “Narcisses-2.0” for Els Deceukelier and Annabelle Chambon in 2012. In 2013, she began to work on a project entitled "La Mort des sentiments" (“The Death of feelings”), of which “Vulnérables” (“Vulnerables”) is the first movement.

Source: Maison de la Danse show program

More information

coralinelamaison.blogspot.fr

KATE STRONG

Kate strong is a performer, dancer and actress. Trained as a dancer, she began at Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet in London. After three years at the Zürich Ballet, she performed for over ten years with Ballett Frankfurt, directed by William Forsythe. She went on to dance for Choreographisches Theater Volksbühne, Berlin under the direction of Johan Kresnik, then worked as an actress for Frank Castorf, Heiner Goebbels, John Cage, Christoph Schlingensief, Falk Richter and Karin Henkel. Since 2001, she has been acting for Schauspielfrankfurt, and under the direction of Wanda Golonka, Matthias Langoff and Mathieu Bauer, among others.

Source: Maison de la Danse programming

Updating: April 2011