Press Release: Marie Chouinard returns to Sadler's Wells with a Double Bill

[Jan McNulty]

UK PREMIERE

Marie Chouinard
Soft virtuosity, still humid, on the edge 
HENRI MICHAUX : MOUVEMENTS            
Sadler’s Wells, EC1R 4TN
Monday 20 & Tuesday 21 June 2016
Performances at 7.30pm
Tickets: £12 – £27
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

Montreal-based artistic director Marie Chouinard, one of the world’s most daring and original choreographers, presents the UK premiere of a double bill of dance on Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 June 2016 at Sadler’s Wells.

Soft virtuosity, still humid, on the edge is performed by ten dancers and explores the body using different tempos from a frantic pace to extreme slowness, through various forms of perambulation (laboured, limping, unbridled, en pointe and demi-pointe). Captured and projected live, the dancer's faces are filmed close-up and presented as an emotional kaleidoscope. 

Completing the double bill is HENRI MICHAUX : MOUVEMENTS, a meeting of dance, visual arts and writings. In 1980, Chouinard discovered the book Mouvements by the Belgian surrealist Henri Michaux (1899-1984), which contained 64 pages of India-ink drawings, a 15-page poem and an afterword. Chouinard reinterprets these into a unique choreographic score. Michaux’s drawings are projected in the background, allowing the audience to simultaneously read the artist’s score. 

Multi-award winning choreographer Marie Chouinard, 60, has created dozens of works since her debut, Crystallization, in 1978. After 12 years as a solo performer and choreographer, Chouinard founded Compagnie Marie Chouinard in 1990 and in that time the company has presented performances all around the world as well as producing with some of the major festivals and institutions in the world of arts, including the Venice Biennale and the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris. 

Marie Chouinard’s work often investigates her view of dance as a sacred art and her respect for the body as a vehicle of that art. Chouinard’s dance vocabulary is based on a classical structure while integrating different cultural understandings of the body. Her material develops from the dancers’ flesh, bones and muscles and the body’s natural instinct. 

In 2007, the company moved into its own purpose-built space, the Espace Marie Chouinard in Montreal. She has won several awards for her contribution to dance, including the Ordre national du Québec (2015), the Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec (2015), the Prix culturel Samuel de Champlain (France, 2014), the prix Denise-Pelletier (Quebec, 2010), the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France, 2009), the Order of Canada (2007), the Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal (2006) and the Bessie Award (New York, 2000). In 2012, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec awarded the first CALQ award for best choreographic work of 2011-2012 to Marie Chouinard.

Contains nudity

Video link: http://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/2016/marie-chouinard-double-bill?playclip=true


Notes to Editors:


Listings information

UK PREMIERE
Marie Chouinard
Soft virtuosity, still humid, on the edge 
HENRI MICHAUX : MOUVEMENTS            
Sadler’s Wells, EC1R 4TN
Performances at 7.30pm
Tickets: £12 – £27
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com


About Sadler’s Wells

Sadler's Wells is a world-leading dance house, committed to producing, commissioning and presenting new works and to bringing the best international and UK dance to London and worldwide audiences. Under the Artistic Directorship of Alistair Spalding, the theatre’s acclaimed year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, Bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap.

Since 2005, it has helped to bring over 100 new dance works to the stage and its award-winning commissions and collaborative productions regularly tour internationally. Sadler’s Wells supports 16 Associate Artists, three Resident Companies, an Associate Company and two International Associate Companies. It also nurtures the next generation of talent through research and development, running the National Youth Dance Company and a range of programmes including Wild Card, New Wave Associates, Open Art Surgery and Summer University.

Located in Islington, north London, the current theatre is the sixth to have stood on the site since it was first built by Richard Sadler in 1683. The venue has played an illustrious role in the history of theatre ever since, with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Opera all having started at Sadler’s Wells. Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and currently receives approximately 10% of its revenue from Arts Council England.