Danspace Project Presents Emmanuelle Huynh "A Vida Enorme/épisode 1"
Company:
Emmanuelle Huynh
Danspace Project Presents Emmanuelle Huynh's A Vida Enorme/épisode 1 as Part of Three Days of Performance and Conversation at Danspace Project in Conjunction with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States
Emmanuelle Huynh: A Vida Enorme/épisode 1
May 15-17, 2014 [Thu-Sat] at 8pm
Conversation Without Walls: DANSE to Diaries: French feminisms
May 17, 2014 [Sat] 3-5:30pm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - New York, NY, May 7, 2014 - Danspace Project presents the U.S. premiere of French choreographer Emmanuelle Huynh's A Vida Enorme/épisode 1, a site-specific work created in 2003. This presentation is in partnership with DANSE: A French-American Festival of Performance and Ideas organized by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, New York City, May 1-18, 2014. Danspace Project is thrilled to welcome Huynh back for her second Danspace performance. On Saturday, May 17, prior to Huynh's third and final performance, Danspace Project hosts a special Conversation Without Walls entitled DANSE to Diaries: French feminisms. Huynh will be a participant in this 2 1/2 hour-long conversation alongside Jenn Joy, DD Dorvillier, Noémie Solomon, Liz Santoro, and Judy Hussie-Taylor.
Emmanuelle Huynh's collaboration with artist Nicholas Floc'h, Numéro, was presented as part of the Trajal Harrell-curated Danspace PLATFORM 2010: certain difficulties, certain joy. Huynh is known for her performances in the work of numerous French companies and formed her own Compagnie Múa in 1995. A treasured educator, she served as director of the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine (CNDC) in Angers from 2004-2012, restructuring CNDC's École supérieure and instituting a master's degree program in dance, creation, and performance.
A Vida Enorme/épisode 1, performed by Huynh and dancer Nuno Bizarro, is structured as a film in which the soundtrack and image are separate and offered one after the other. The soundtrack consists of a dialogue between Huynh and Bizarro which incorporates several poems by the Portuguese experimental poet Herberto Hélder, sampled in French and Portuguese, accompanied by flashes from David Bowie's song Heroes.
"I wanted to have different strata work together," Huynh explains, "the separate strata of sound and image, the superposed strata of the physical and spiritual poetry of Hélder and of the rock utopia of Bowie, and the juxtaposed strata of the cutting made for the language and then by the bodies." A Vida Enorme/épisode 1 tells a scattered story, using cinematographic tools with no actual image projected. Says Huynh: "In this story the language and the body celebrate the flesh of the world and its opacity."
A Vida Enorme/episode 1 is performed by Emmanuelle Huynh and Nuno Bizarro
Lighting design by Yves Godin
Texts by Herberto Hélder (La Cuiller dans la bouche, Du monde, éditions La Différence)
Soundtrack by Sandy Notarianni with Emmanuelle Huynh and Nuno Bizzaro
Text accompaniment Jean-Paul Quéinnec
Huynh will be among the distinguished participants at Danspace's Conversation Without Walls: DANSE to Diaries: French feminisms on Saturday, May 17th from 3-5:30pm.
In conjunction with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy's DANSE: A French-American Festival of Performance and Ideas, this conversation traces the legacies of French feminism. Moderated by Jenn Joy with DD Dorvillier, Noémie Solomon, Emmanuelle Huynh, Liz Santoro, and Judy Hussie-Taylor. Following the Conversation, Danspace Project Executive Director Judy Hussie-Taylor will receive the insignia of Chevalier of the Ordre des arts et des Lettres for her significant contributions to the arts. The medal ceremony begins at 6:15pm with remarks from Antonin Baudry, Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy, followed by a reception. "By approaching dance with a growth-geared outlook, Judy ensures a rich future for contemporary dance. She is the mastermind behind the stage. Judy is an indispensable force in the New York dance scene, and her original initiatives -- especially the Choreographic Center Without Walls and the Platforms series -- have ensured that Danspace will remain a staple of our culture for years to come," says Baudry.
The conversation and chevalier ceremony takes place in The Parish Hall at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery (131 East 10th Street at 2nd Avenue, Manhattan, NYC) Danspace Project's home.
TICKETS AND RESERVATIONS
Admission for Emmanuelle Huynh's A Vida Enorme/épisode 1 is $20 General Admission and $15 for Danspace Project members.
Admission for the Conversation Without Walls is $10 suggested donation at the door. RSVP recommended.
RSVP for Conversation or buy tickets for performance online at: www.danspaceproject.org or by phone at (866) 811-4111 (TheaterMania/OvationTix)
Emmanuelle Huynh studied both philosophy and dance. In 1994 she was awarded a prestigious Villa Médicis hors-les-murs grant to go to Vietnam, and upon her return she created her first piece, a solo, Múa, which registers creative collaborations with artists from different fields.
She continued with the duo Tout contre (1998), and Distribution en cours, which places an astrophysicist and his research on black holes in the center of the danse (2000), tentative pour corps, textes et tables with texts of Christophe Tarkos (2001) ; Numéro (2002); A Vida Enorme/episode 1 (2003). Next, are created Heroes (2005), Le Grand Dehors, conte pour aujourd'hui (2007), Monster Project (2008) with the Japanese Choreographe Kosei Sakamoto, Cribles, choreographic legend for 1000 dancers at the Montpellier Danse festival 2009. She creates Augures, a piece for seven interpreters, in 2012 at The Rencontres Chorégraphiques in Paris and Spiel, a duet with the Japanese performance artist Akira Kasai at the Festival d'Automne 2012.
Emmanuelle Huynh managed the Centre national de danse contemporaine in Angers until 31.12.12, and melted again the school in 2004, by creating in particular a new program, Essais, which used to dispense a Master's degree. The direction of the CNDC expires on 2012 December 31. Emmanuelle Huynh revives her company Mùa on January 2013, within which she pursues her choreographic work and experimentations, diverse pedagogical actions and international trans-disciplinary cooperation projects.
FUNDING
Emmanualle Huynh's A Vida Enorme/épisode 1 is funded in part by Institut français and FUSED: French U.S Exchange in Dance, a program of the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, and FACE (French American Cultural Exchange), with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional funding from the Florence Gould Foundation.
A Vida Enorme/performance was created in June 2002 at La Villa Gillet, Lyon. Production compagnie Múa ; coproduction Bonlieu - Scène nationale d'Annecy, Festival d'Automne à Paris, Les Spectacles Vivants - Centre Pompidou, Centre chorégraphique national de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon, Centre chorégraphique national de Tours.
ABOUT DANSPACE PROJECT: Danspace Project presents new work in dance, supports a diverse range of choreographers in developing their work, encourages experimentation, and connects artists to audiences. Now in its fourth decade, Danspace Project has supported a vital community of contemporary dance artists in an environment unlike any other in the United States. Located in the historic St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, Danspace shares its facility with the Church, The Poetry Project, and The Incubator Arts Project. Danspace Project's Commissioning Initiative has commissioned over 450 new works since its inception in 1994.
Danspace Project's Choreographic Center Without Walls (CW²) provides context for audiences and increased support for artists. Our presentation programs (including Platforms, Food for Thought, DraftWork), Commissioning Initiative, residencies, guest artist curators, and contextualizing activities and materials are core components of CW² offering a responsive framework for artists' works. Since 2010, we have produced seven Platforms, published seven print catalogues and five e-books, launched the Conversations Without Walls discussion series, and explored models for public discourse and residencies.
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