Funded by an Arts Council of Ireland IRIS Award
From July 2022

CHOREOGRAPHY CONNECTS is an important new venture that unites CoisCéim with two European dance trailblazers – OperaEstate/CSC, (Comune di Bassano, Italy) and Le Gymnase CDCN (France) – in a project that explores the strategic alliance between choreography, nature and care.

An artist-led, residency initiative funded by Arts Council Ireland, it brings together the following distinctive, socially engaged dance artists: Vittoria Caneva (Italy), Marion Carriau (France), Justine Cooper (Ireland), Chiara Frigo (Italy), Aoife McAtamney (Ireland) and Betty Tchomanga (France) with one of Europe’s leading dramaturgs, Monica Gillette, to explore fresh ways to connect people and increase access to the artform.

Coming Up

2 – 16 DECEMBER 2023 | Residency at Le Gymnase CDCN, Roubaix – Vittoria Caneva, Italian dance artist.

8 – 19 JANUARY 2024 | Residency at CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Dublin – Betty Tchomanga, French dance artist.

28 MARCH – 8 APRIL 2024 | Residency at Le Gymnase CDCN, Roubaix – Aoife McAtamney, Irish dance artist.

2 – 12 JUNE 2024 | Residency at Le Gymnase CDCN, Roubaix – Justine Cooper, Irish dance artist.

 

FROM THE RESIDENCIES

“Welcoming Choreography Connects artists during our festival Le Grand Bain allows these artists to combine individual research and immersion in the choreographic landscape of our region. On the side of Le Gymnase, it is to gather over a long time a testimony elaborated from a look at both the new and the expert. It also means allowing artists in our territory new gateways and opportunities for experimentation and establishing conversations with our partners outside of production and dissemination issues”
– Laurent Mehuest, Le Gymnase CDCN

“…. enabled me to see where my practice is at the moment – where it is going and how I might remove barriers in the development of my unique choreographic fingerprint…”
– Resident Artist

“…. provided the tracks on the journey to owning my own care in terms of sustainable practice…”
– Resident Artist
“Through Choreography Connects we are able to welcome two Irish artists who very rarely would reach our territory and our communities, and build with them an international artistic community and shared path of research and exchange of dance practices. Being part of a project that invests in research and the development of joint and shared knowledge, allows us to become more responsive to the dynamic changes in the realities in which we work and live. It has also been an opportunity for artists and organisations to create a new international network of support and knowledge sharing together that focuses on the important topics of environment and community.”
– Roberto Casarotto, OperaEstate / Comune di Bassano

“…taking distance from my ecosystem and putting myself in a state of unbalance – a place to research, to be open to see things, and let things be revealed…

… I feel that the environment in which we live or develop our artistic work really affects our questions, our inspirations and for sure for me this is a place that nourishes my thoughts…”
– Resident Artist

“…the possibility to see shows every night makes this residency really special because the festival is spread all over the region and in different venues so it is really an opportunity to meet people and new artists…”
– Resident Artist
“I went very deep with tough questions during this residency. I experienced the void, the inside emptiness.. but I decided to trust the process, to take the wave and to welcome my emotions. I let the « flow flow » and was able to make concrete connections… and out of the fog, find a constellation.”
– Resident Artist

“The outdoor conditions of the residency forced me to shift and find my rebound. I had to tame my new environment, to smell it, to make sense of it…. to let my body become more and more liberated… free to go to new places, where my brain was not judging me anymore.”
– Resident Artist

“Choreography Connects has an energy field – I am resisting the urge and habit to research my ongoing projects at each gathering so that I can stay open to the process of shared community and the unknown…”
– Resident Artist

“It is a fundamental project for our dancehouse, as it shines a light on different connections (between artists and organisations, artists and artists), all whilsts navigating the different topics of nature, freedom, generation and expectations” – Greta Pieropan, Operaestate

PROJECT ARTISTS

Photo by Anna Kushnirenko

PROJECT HISTORY

14 – 29 JULY 2023 | Residency at Bassano del Grappa – Betty Tchomanga, French dance artist
Following on directly from the artists’ weekend gathering with Monica Gillette, Betty remained at Bassano del Grappa for a two-week residency. She has been generous enough to share her notes taken during the time there:

« I dive into the thinking of bell hooks. »
« Racialized people here are invisible »
« 6 white women untied my braids yesterday! My entrance to this residency…»
« Reading and writing everyday… »
 
« I dive into Alice Zeniter’s novel The art of Losing»
« Gaps and silences from History, from my own history… »
« What kind of teenager was I? »
« Water has always been the Earth’s memory and element of transformation. More and more sea, less and less land. »

14 – 16 JULY 2023 | Bassano del Grappa – a two day series of facilitated workshops with dramaturg Monica Gillette.  
At this year’s Gathering, we were also thrilled to be joined by photographer Anna Kushnirenko and local artist, Sara Lando who will create a series of works to capture the energy of the weekend – here’s a wee flavour of the Gathering through her visual notes while we wait for the artworks to mature.

Photos by Anna Kushnirenko

3 – 13 JULY 2023 | Residency at OperaEstate/CSC, Bassano – Justine Cooper, Irish dance artist
Justine’s residency took the form of a solo pilgrimage that evolved into a 3-strand weave, exploring foraged visual choreography and archetypal wisdom from plants in the beautiful surrounds of Bassano to address anxiety through donated gestures of care. Supported by the other project artists and a local herbalist, she shared an improvised Qi Gong-enriched practice with the deeply inspiring participants of the local Dance Well class. The 10-day experience culminated with the second collective facilitated gathering of Choreography Connects artists, igniting further questions and discoveries in her endeavour to create a choreographic quilt of care.

15 – 25 MAY 2023 | Residency at CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Dublin – Marion Carriau, French dance artist (supported by Dublin Dance Festival)
Marion’s residency in Dublin took place almost exclusively outdoors – on the beach – with the Irish weather being unusually kind. The intensity of the solitary experience was balanced with a number of encounters with the Irish project artists’ and workshops/performances at Dublin Dance Festival.

20 – 31 MARCH 2023 | Residency at Le Gymnase CDCN, Roubaix – Chiara Frigo, Italian dance artist.
The first French residency took place in tandem with Le Gymnase’s signature festival “Le Grand Bain” giving an opportunity for established Italian artist, Chiara Frigo to marry solitary creative explorations with vibrant conversations with other artists and the public at the festival performances and events around the region.

21 NOVEMBER – 3 DECEMBER 2022 | Inaugural Residency at CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Dublin – Vittoria Caneva, Italian dance artist.
To connect with Vittoria’s interest in working with older communities and people with Parkinson’s this residency included encounters with Olwyn Lyons, leader of the Dance for Parkinson’s class at Dance Ireland and Mia Di Chiaro at CoisCéim Broadreach’s Weekly Wednesday class at the Carmelite Community Centre, as well as creative exploration on and offsite with Irish project artists Justine Cooper and Aoife McAtamney. It culminated with an invited sharing on 2 December.

22 – 23 JULY 2022 | Bassano del Grappa – a two day series of facilitated workshops and attending performances involving 5 of the 6 residency artists and project partners to kick off the project with a physical gathering.

Photos by Anna Kushnirenko

 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Vittoria Caneva is an Italian dance artist. She graduated in 2018 from the Triennio Professionale di Danza Contemporanea del Balletto di Roma. During her education she has performed creations by Francesca Pennini, Pablo Tapia Leyton and Ivan Perez. 

In 2020 she collaborated with Masako Matsushita on the archiving project Diary of a Move. She is an active freelancer across Italian and European festivals and residency centers.

She has worked as a performer for Pietro Marullo, Andrea Rampazzo, Beatrice Bresolin, Giorgia Lolli, Masako Matsushita, Kinkaleri, Yasmeen Godder, Nora Chipaumire, Melanie Démers. She is a founding member of Base9, artistic community that collaboratively creates choreographic, participatory and laboratorial projects. Since 2019 she is a Dancewell teacher – Movement and Research for Parkinson’s. She is a finalist for DNAppunticoreografici 2022, as part of Romaeuropa Festival.

Formée au CNDC d’Angers, je collabore depuis en tant qu’interprète avec différents artistes: Mohammed Shafik, Les Gens d’uterpan, Mylène Benoit, Julien Prévieux, Laurent Goldring et Arthur Perole. En 2011, je rencontre Joanne Leighton avec je collabore étroitement depuis. Je créé Je suis tous les dieux , mon premier solo en décembre 2018. La pièce est recrée dans une version jeune public en 2021. Chêne Centenaire, duo écrit et interprété par Magda Kachouche et moi-même voit le jour dans sa version intérieure en décembre 2021. En 2022, Magda Kachouche et moi-même créons une version extérieure de Chêne Centenaire ainsi que Paysan.ne.s., pièce participative que nous envisageons comme la troisième arborescence de Chêne Centenaire.

J’ envisage la création chorégraphique comme un lieu d’ouverture sur la fiction favorisant la réinvention des corps. Le tissage de la danse à la pratique vocale et aux arts plastiques est au coeur de ma démarche artistique. Je conçois des oeuvres modulables pensées pour entrer en dialogue avec l’environnement dans lequel elles s’inscrivent.

Par mon travail, je souhaite défendre l’entrelacement des liens, l’attachement au monde, aux écosystèmes et aux espèces. C’est pourquoi, chacune de mes créations questionne les mythes qui construisent notre rapport au monde. Le mythe comme une construction imaginaire qui exprime par le sensible et le symbole les valeurs fondamentales d’une communauté à la recherche de sa cohésion.

Originally from New Zealand, Justine has been based in Ireland as a freelance dance artist, teacher and choreographer since 2008. Currently lecturing at The University of Limerick in contemporary dance and choreography & most recently performing as a dance artist with Liz Roche Company, CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Justine Doswell, Mary Wycherly, Oona Doherty, United Fall, Maria Nilsson Waller, Anu Productions, Junk Ensemble. Justine was a
member of Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre from 1998-2000.

Choreography credits include FOLDS OF THE CRANE that was presented as part of Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival 2015 (nominated for Spirit of the Fringe & Best Lighting & Design), at Dublin Dance Festival 2016 and What’s Next Festival 2018 and movement direction on THE MISFITS by Corn Exchange (Nominated for Best Movement Direction, Irish Theatre Awards, 2018)

A certified teacher of hatha yoga and quan yin qi gong, Justine has a strong interest in the healing arts, which led to the birth of a new project LITTLE FLOWER in 2020. LITTLE FLOWER creates locally sourced, handmade botanical skincare, workshops and bespoke care packages.

In her dancing practice the question “how can the dancing body be a channel for the primal/divine ~ ancient/future?” has always been a guiding rod along with the companion query of “how do we tend to the body of the planet”.

Choreographer and performer, co-founder of Zebra Cultural Zoo, Chiara Frigo has developed her artistic interest in the field of dance and performing arts. Having graduated in molecular biology, she has taken part in international research projects collaborating with Amsterdam’s SNDO, Vancouver’s Dance Center,London’s The Place, Rotterdam’s Dansateliers, Copenhagen’s Dansescenen, and Madrid’s Paso a 2-Certamen Coreográfico de Madrid.

Her choreographic research has focused increasingly on the connection between movement and dramaturgy. In 2010 she started to collaborate with Montreal’s Circuit Est choreographic centre, where she has been a guest for production residencies since. Her poetics delved deeper and deeper into the political and social environment: her piece West End reflects on the decline of the Western world and resorts to a number of different languages. The wish to reach new audiences and involve the local communities led her to create Ballroom, an intergenerational project that was presented in Iceland, in the Netherlands, as well as in numerous Italian festivals. Her piece Himalaya marked the beginning of a research around the topics related to spirituality in arts.

She is currently involved in Blackbird, a community project inspired by art as a form of activism and collective creation; Miss Lala al Circo Fernando, a performance conceived for Marigia Maggipinto, a historic performer of Tanztheater Wuppertal, about the idea of a body as a living archive of memories. She curates video art projects, design projects, and is engaged in theatre collaborations.

Aoife McAtamney is a dancer/choreographer, musician, actor and teacher based in Dublin. She began a career as a dancer and choreographer producing work locally and internationally and since 2019, she has been touring with Oona Doherty as a vocalist and dancer for the performance ‘Lady Magma’ and dancing with choreographer Emma Martin in ‘Night Dances’. As an actor, Aoife can be seen in Paula Keohos TV documentary ‘The Devils In her’ and
also alongside Olwen Fouéré for BBCNI and TG4.

As a choreographer, she has been the recipient of numerous prizes and bursaries from the Arts Council and Culture Ireland and was Irelands first female lgbtq+ Aerowaves artist as part of the cohort of 2014 with her first solo Softer Swells – that subsequently toured internationally including to La Briqueterie in Vitry-sur-Seine and the Instances festival in Chalon-sur-Saône.

Her movement practice evolved to music, songwriting and soundscapes for performances and in early 2020 Aoife graduated with an MA (1st) in songwriting at the University of Limerick. Alongside their work in dance and choreography, Aoife coaches dancers and teaches workshops in vocal movement and cultivates a community arts practice developing investigations of gender, ancestry and nature. From 2020 – 2022 Aoife was the lead
movement artist for Dublin City Council Culture Company and participation practice credits with ageing bodies of culture include CoisCéim Dance Theatre’s Broadreach and now with Macushla Dance Group.

I was born in 1989 in a French region of Charente-Maritime. My father is Cameroonian and my mother is French. At the age of 9 I started my first lessons in modern jazz dance and classical dance and from 2004 to 2006 I studied in the Conservatoire de Bordeaux as well as with Alain Gonotey Cie Lullaby.

In 2007 I turned, particularly, towards contemporary dance and joined the choreographic artists course in Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers (CNDC) supervised by Emmanuelle Huynh. At the same time I kept on with my literary studies at Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle until 2014, where I got my master’s degree in Modern Literature.

I finished my CNDC Angers courses in 2009 and at the same time started my performance career with Emmanuelle Huynh (Cribles, Augures) and Alain Buffard (Tout va bien). Afterwards, I expanded my performance experience with choreographers of varying aesthetics: Raphaëlle Delaunay (Bitter Sugar), Fanny de Chaillé (Passage à l’acte), Gaël Sesboüé (Grammes), Éléonore Didier (Moi, mes copines, à l’instant où ça s’arrête), Anne Collod (Le parlement des Invisibles), Herman Diephuis (Clan ; Mix), Nina Santès (Hymen Hymne ; République Zombie).

Nonetheless, this experience is mainly influenced by my encounter and collaboration with Marlene Monteiro Freitas. We started working together in 2014 and still do today (D’ivoire et chair, les statues souffrent aussi ; Bacchantes, prélude pour une purge ; Mal Embriaguez Divina). Other artistic experiences continue to nourish my performance practice. In particular, those with the plastic artist Alex Ceccetti and also my lead role in Secteur IX B, a film of Mathieu K. Abonnenc that he presented at Venice Biennale in 2015.

Since my graduation from CNDC in Angers 2009 I never dissociated the practice of the performer from that of the creator. The latter will take different forms: in 2012 I created –A– ou il a sûrement peur de l’eau le poisson in collaboration with musician Romain Mercier ; then in 2013, a show in situ called Le Rivage in collaboration with Oriane Déchery and Jérôme Andrieu.

In 2016, I joined l’Association Lola Gatt Productions chorégraphiques based in Brest, as an associate choreographer together with Gaël Sesboüé and Marie-Laure Caradec. The very same year I choreographed and directed a play for three performers called Madame. In the beginning of 2020, I created a solo titled Mascarades which I performed and choreographed. Today I’m working on a piece titled Lessons of Darkness, which is planned to premiere in 2022.

Monica Gillette (US/DE) is a dance dramaturg, choreographer and facilitator. After dancing professionally she now shapes innovative projects utilizing dance as a vehicle for transdisciplinary research and multigenerational cultural exchange. As a dramaturg and facilitator she has accompanied several European funded projects – Migrant Bodies – Moving Borders (2017-2019), Empowering Dance (2018-2023), Dancing Museums – The Democracy of Beings (2020-2021) and Dance Well (2022-2025). She has been collaborating with Yasmeen Godder since 2012, first as a performer and later as co-artistic director of the project Störung/Hafra’ah (2015-16), bringing together people living with Parkinson’s Disease, professional dancers and scientists to collaboratively research movement and for which they were awarded the Shimon Peres Prize in 2017. As a choreographer she collaborates with Gary Joplin and Theater Freiburg, most recently creating works with people who have been impacted by cancer and topics related to gender identity and expression.

Anna Kushnirenko is a dance and photography artist from Ukraine. As a dancer started her way in the private contemporary dance school and then developed skills accessing workshops, dance festivals and camps, co-creating and being part of dance performances with an emphasis on contemporary dance and improvisation, has experienced Iyengar yoga for 4 years. Her movement practice is built around dance improvisation and different movement games, with the aim to create connection to space and people. As a photographer, she has mainly worked with people (experience in posing doesn’t matter), making documentation for events and private portrait shootings. She gives attention to the details, that are part of big complex things. She’s inspired by life’s unique moments and nostalgia.

Sara Lando (Marostica, 1978) lives and works in Bassano del Grappa. Her work explores identity, the boundaries between what is real and what is imagined, and how memory deteriorates and remodels with the passage of time. She uses mixed techniques including photography, illustration, collage and three-dimensional and textural elements. She is interested in collaboration with non-human artistic partners and the concept of diffuse authorship. The techniques she uses stem from a playful curiosity and direct interaction with the object and explore the degradation of the image and the concept of creation as a consequence of the physical destruction of an object.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Across cultures and throughout history, dance builds connection. Connection to oneself, to others and to one’s environment. Hence CHOREOGRAPHY CONNECTS – an ambitious pilot project that unites three highly experienced dance houses, six socially engaged dance artists, their local communities and extensive networks in Ireland, France, Italy and beyond – to collectively address the strategic alliance between three key themes: choreography, nature and care.

The aim is to give time, space and imagination to engineer pioneering new pathways for sustainable environments – ecologically, socially and professionally – and actively direct us all to rethink the very notion of “care” – to rewrite the source code of how we work.

Taking place over two years and anchored by the highly experienced dramaturg, Monica Gillette – CHOREOGRAPHY CONNECTS underscores the critical value of dance practice in society and will enable socially engaged artists and organisations to transcend the limits of current product-oriented mindsets, inspire experimentation and discover new creative processes that coherently connect this “care” across borders, through:

– 12 in-person process based residencies;

– 36 connected digital conversations;

– 3 annual gatherings;

– 32+ encounters with the public as participant, witness and fellow contributor.

 

ABOUT OUR PROJECT PARTNERS

Comune di Bassano del Grappa is an Italian public body, dedicated to the development of culture and contemporary performing arts in the Veneto Region. Part of the Comune di Bassano del Grappa are Centro per la Scena Contemporanea, a dance house, and Operaestate Festival Veneto, a multidisciplinary festival, their activities and objectives are aimed at supporting artistic development, audience engagement, cultural active participation of citizens in community projects, artistic productions, promotion of artistic mobility, promotion of initiatives of cultural inclusion, presentation of events and performances, qualification of the territory and its heritage with cultural initiatives. It is member of Aerowaves and European Dancehouse Network and recipient of several grants supported by the Creative Europe and Erasmus+ programmes of the EU. www.operaestate.it

Founded in 1983, Le Gymnase National Centre of Choreographic Development (CDCN) has been working for almost 40 years supporting the choreographic sector and establishing networks in the Lille area and both regionally and nationally. At the heart of Le Gymnase CDCN’s mission is helping and supporting choreographic artists and forging a relationship between choreographic creation and audiences. On the basis of this, there are three strands to its activities:
• supporting creation and research structured around welcoming artists at work (in research and
creative residences), helping with production and company structures
• dissemination centred on two festivals: Le Grand Bain, an immersion in the diversity of the
choreographic landscape, and Les Petits Pas, a pioneering dance festival aimed at young
audiences
• education (with regular lessons, courses and masterclasses) mediation and raising awareness,
organised around opportunities for encounters and reflection as well as numerous activities in
schools and associations.

Located in the priority area “Quartier Intercommunal Roubaix-Tourcoing – Blanc Seau – Croix Bas Saint Pierre”, the CDCN’s home since 2003 is an old gymnasium built in 1876. Le Gymnase is active in its local area, but also wants to be more closely involved with people living in the Hauts-de-France region. With a population of just under one hundred thousand, Roubaix, the third largest commune in Hauts-de-France by population, is famous for its architectural heritage as well as for its economic expansion, its rich web of associations and its pioneering social activities (e.g. inter-professional housing committee, residents’ involvement, and its social and solidarity-based economy). Facing numerous difficulties, more than three quarters of the population of the city of Roubaix live in a priority area in terms of municipal policies. Roubaix is one of France’s poorest communes, but also one of France’s youngest population.

Starting from this vivid reality but also from the potential the city offers, since it relocated to Roubaix Le Gymnase CDCN has adopted new approaches to respond to the area’s needs and make art and culture accessible to the people who live there. To achieve this, Le Gymnase has launched projects that allow encounters between dance and the public, specifically in health clinics and social organisations,associations and educational institutions from nurseries to universities. It supports and works alongside the disadvantaged in priority areas, people cut off from cultural offers, and in cooperation with local actors and support structures (in the areas of social care, health and education). www.gymnase-cdcn.com

In Italy, CHOREOGRAPHY CONNECTS is supported by BOARDING PASS PLUS DANCE

Boarding Pass Plus Dance, supported by the Ministry of Culture, is a project that includes numerous actions and activities for the internationalization of the careers of dance artists and professionals, as well as the enhancement of relationships and collaborations between Italian and foreign partners, and the dissemination on the territory of the skills acquired and of the projects developed. The project leader is Operaestate/CSC of Bassano del Grappa, in partnership with the Cultural Association AREA06/Short Theatre, Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo/Lavanderia a Vapore, Oxa srl/Base Milano, Santarcangelo dei Teatri, and many international partners.

The fourth edition of Boarding Pass Plus Dance identifies the need to support sustainable creation: responding to the need to share relationship formats and transnational collaboration that embrace the theme of sustainability also with respect to the life span of the artistic processes and the creations generated, and in the travelling, when possible. The project and its actions, shared among all the partners, therefore intend to explore the theme of sustainability connected to the conditions of research, creation and development of artistic trajectories.