The Tree (fragments of poetics on fire)
2021 - Director : Proefrock, Yan
Choreographer(s) : Carlson, Carolyn (France)
Present in collection(s): Carolyn Carlson Company
Video producer : Arte
The Tree (fragments of poetics on fire)
2021 - Director : Proefrock, Yan
Choreographer(s) : Carlson, Carolyn (France)
Present in collection(s): Carolyn Carlson Company
Video producer : Arte
The Tree (fragments of poetics on fire)
In an age when humans deplete the resources of the earth, Carolyn Carlson declares her love for it. In this poetic exploration of humanity and nature, the American choreographer dramatizes the four elements to pay homage to our planet.
A work by Carolyn Carlson is a gift that cannot be missed. Looking back at her childhood, one of scenic west American landscapes and the midnight suns of Finland, the great dancer and choreographer pays tribute to all the miracles accomplished by the earth in The TREE. “Like nature, we transform.” Accordingly, her nine dancers embody water, fire, the tree or wind indiscriminately. Conceived across multiple levels that successively reveal themselves – like a painting within a painting – this declaration of love to our planet has “the poetic power of the flames.” It urges us to fully acknowledge its beauty and fragility. Isabelle Calabre
Carlson, Carolyn
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.
Nowadays, Carolyn Carlson is director of two organisations: the Atelier de Paris-Carolyn Carlson, an international centre for masterclasses, residencies and creating new works, which she founded in 1999 and the National Choreographic Centre Roubaix Nord-Pas de Calais until December 2013, which produces and tours shows all over the world.
More information: en.carolyn-carlson.com
Proefrock, Yan
Carolyn Carlson Company
Artistic Direction: Carolyn Carlson
Creation: 2014
Recognised for her talents as a choreographer, Carolyn Carlson is equally a “group leader”, gathering around herself the personalities who nourish her poetic world. Her creations are the fruit of exchanges with performers which she chooses primarily for their distinctiveness and their capacity to commit to a composition process based on improvisation techniques. Today, the Carolyn Carlson Company consists of a group of dancers who come together in various combinations, depending on the work or project.
Dancers Constantine Baecher, Ismaera Takeo Ishii, Chinatsu Kosakatani, Juha Marsalo, Celine Maufroid, Riccardo Meneghini, Isida Micani, Yutaka Nakata, Alexis Ochin, Sara Orselli, Sara Simeoni
“The Carolyn Carlson Company is a hive of activity, an area of creativity and freedom in which intertwine gesture and poetic thought...”
January 2014: after nine years as director of the CCN de Roubaix Nord-Pas de Calais, Carolyn Carlson returns to Paris and funds her company, the Carolyn Carlson Company (CCCy), in residency at the Théâtre National de Chaillot from 2014 to 2016.
With a unique repertory and accompanied by dancers true to her poetical gesture, Carolyn pursues her creative process: each year, the Carolyn Carlson Company carries out at least two large scale projects, a creation and the transmission of repertoire pieces to the most prestigious international ballets, while continuing touring the choreographers’ creations worldwide.
More information : carolyn-carlson.com
The Tree (Fragments of poetics on fire)
Artistic direction / Conception : Carolyn Carlson
Choreography : Carolyn Carlson
Choreography assistance : Colette Malye
Interpretation : Chinatsu Kosakatani, Juha Marsalo, Céline Maufroid, Riccardo Meneghini, Isida Micani, Yutaka Nakata, Sara Orselli, Sara Simeoni, Constantine Baecher
Original music : Aleksi Aubry-Carlson, René Aubry, Maarja Nuut, K. Friedrich Abel
Lights : Rémi Nicolas, assisté de Guillaume Bonneau
Costumes : Elise Dulac et Atelier du Théâtre National de Chaillot. Remerciements à Chrystel Zingiro
Settings : Peintures projetées | Gao Xingjian
Other collaborations : Accessoires | Gilles Nicolas et Jank Dage
Production / Coproduction of the choreographic work : Carolyn Carlson Company Coproductions en cours | Théâtre National de Chaillot, Théâtre Toursky Marseille, Ballet du Nord / Centre Chorégraphique National Roubaix Hauts-de-France, Equilibre Nuithonie Fribourg
Production / Coproduction of the video work : Oxymore productions
Duration : 1h20
New breath : 21st century youth enters the world of dance
(LA)HORDE: RESIST TOGETHER
The “Nouvelle Danse Française” of the 1980s
In France, at the beginning of the 1980s, a generation of young people took possession of the dancing body to sketch out their unique take on the world.
The national choreographic centres
[1970-2018] Neoclassical developments: They spread worldwide, as well as having multiple repertoires and dialogues with contemporary dance.
Meeting with literature
Collaboration between a choreographer and a writer can lead to the emergence of a large number of combinations. If sometimes the choreographer creates his dance around the work of an author, the writer can also choose dance as the subject of his text.
When reality breaks in
States of the body
Explanation of the term « State of the body » when it’s about dance.
Dance in Quebec: Untamed Bodies
First part of the Parcours about dance in Quebec, these extracts present how bodies are being used in a very physical way.
Dance and music
The relationship between music and choreographic works varies throught dance history.
A Rite of Passage
Why do I dance ?
Käfig, portrait of a company
Hand dances
This parcours presents different video extracts in which hands are the center of the mouvement.
Contemporary Italian Dance : the 2000s
Panorama of contemporary dance practices in Italy during the 2000s.
Mexican Video Dance
Outdoor dances
Stage theater and studio are not the only places of work or performance of a choreographic piece. Sometimes dancers and choreographers dance outside.
The contemporary Belgian dance
This Parcours presents different Belgian choreographers who have marked history and participated in the creation of a "Belgian" style.
Scenic space
A dance performance takes place in a defined spatial area ... or not. This course helps to understand the occupation of the stage space in dance.