Marion Carriau
French Dance Artist
8 – 19 july 2024
Residency at Bassano del Grappa
Marion’s reflection in writing following the residency in Bassano in summer 2024:
I came to Bassano after the European and the French legislative elections, stunned by the politics of my country and the vertiginous rise of the extreme right, violence and racism. During my residency, I felt the urge to work around the concept of joy. Joy in the body, joy in movement, joy in the collective. Or how to consider joy as a powerful weapon of defense. My residency in Bassano enabled me to distance myself from a political reality that had weakened me, so that I could focus on my true artistic needs and rediscover my desire.
I was also lucky enough to end my residency with the Gathering, and so to be able to share my artistic experience with my fellow artists-midwives.
Choreography Connects has been an incomparable experience, a timeless bubble, alone or with those other women artists, which has systematically enabled me to update my thinking system and my needs so that I can continue to create with confidence and groundedness.
15 – 25 MAY 2023
Residency at CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Dublin
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.
In Marion's words - 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...
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.
Gallery
Opera Estate/CSC, Bassano
CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Dublin
Partners
OperaEstate/CSC (Comune di Bassano del Grappa)
Part of the Municipality of Bassano del Grappa, the CSC Centro per la Scena Contemporanea is a dynamic dance house dedicated to the development of the culture of contemporary dance in the Veneto Region, while the Operaestate Festival involves 35 cities and presents over 100 multidisciplinary performances and events each season in theatres, castles, parks, villas, site specific locations and museums of the territory. The CSC is supported by MiC (the Italian Ministry of Culture), and many of its international projects and cooperations are supported by the Creative Europe, Europe for Citizens and Erasmus+ programmes of the European Union. It is member of the European Dance Development Network (EDN) and of Aerowaves, in constant dialogue with dance organisations in Europe; and it is also part of the Anticorpi XL network: the very first Italian network for emerging contemporary dance artists, involving 37 programmers from 15 different regions, and including projects supporting the artists mobility and creative researches. In recent years, it has started dialogues with many European and extra-European partners.
The CSC is devoted to the artistic development, community projects, productions, promotion of artistic mobility. It offers more than 35 residencies to Italian and international artists every year. It is committed to developing new and enhanced ways of engaging participants and audiences whilst continuing to focus strongly on building a sustainable future for dance as the Italian leading supporter of dance artists. It is committed to transforming and enriching lives through dance, to shaping where dance is going next.
Le Gymnase CDCN
For forty years, Le Gymnase CDCN has been supporting and creating a network within the dance sector in and around Lille, as well as regionally, nationally and internationally. At the heart of its activity is its support for artists and audiences. Le Gymnase is one of twelve National Centers of Choreographic Development (CDCN) in metropolitan France. As a CDCN, Le Gymnase’s guiding principles are based on: supporting artists, working to raise awareness and mediation, professional training, research,· dissemination of dance and regional outreach.
Every year, around 120 events are staged for the public, interspersed with regular outputs from residencies and shows with our programming partners. Le Gymnase also has two major events in its programme: festival Le Grand Bain - plural, diverse and innovative program, with creations, in-situ shows, multidisciplinary proposals, and the festival Forever Young, the first dance festival for children and young people created in France in 2006.
Le Gymnase also joins forces with an artist for a period of 3 years –and currently Silvia Gribaudi from january 2024 – working on co-productions, dissemination, masterclasses and participatory projects with the associate artist and boosting their artistic presence in its area.
One particular historical and organic focus for Le Gymnase is its involvement in mediation working with the sectors of education, social work and health, using different tools and educational packs.
Another example of this is the LOOP network that Le Gymnase runs, a professional dance network designed for children and young people that currently comprises 24 organisations. This network is involved in sharing resources and developing educational tools, and is also a space of artistic exchanges, and commissions artists for shows for young audiences.
An international outlook is translated into each of our activities, such : · expanding the LOOP network to festivals and initiatives intended for children and young people on a European scale· Being more involved in producing and disseminating the work of international artists. · Establishing a career path for artists with our European partners, Becoming more international also crosses over into our mediation projects through our involvement in international cooperation projects such as Dance Well, which unites eight European partners to work on long-term activities from August 2022 to July 2025.
