For the first edition of the FUSA Dance Festival France-USA, Althea Dance Company and the FEU invite you to discover three contemporary dance companies. During this evening — along with the work of the selected companies — discover a new piece choreographed by participants of the workshop In Motion V, organized the week before by Althea Dance Company.
FUSA is the result of the encounter between Althea Dance Company and the Fondation des États-Unis (FEU). Together, they are creating a socially engaged Franco-American contemporary dance festival. The festival presents a choreographic vocabulary inspired by the crossing of two cultures who meet, nourish each other, and explore together. FUSA, by fostering creativity, promotes and reinforces the friendship between France and the US through movement
Practical Information
Date Monday, July 10 | Time 7:30pm | Facebook Event
Program
The Song of Spies
Cardinal Movement and Company
Choreographer: Assaf Salhov
Dancers: Nikki Holck, Assaf Salhov
The Song of Spies, features two beings found in a perpetual practice of recalling a language and history that they must ensure is not forgotten. They methodically repeat this act through a physical code composed of dance and song, in order to continuously remember and rebuild a world they can not lose.
Like a tree
Compagnie Le Terrain Vague
Choreographer and dancers: Daniel Lynch, Béatrice Mazalto
Music: Serge Pesce
Like a tree with many branches. We are all branches of the same tree, which is humanity. The project revolves around the meeting of two dancers from different generations and a unique musician. Three people in the same space. Different worlds and very different lives; yet, life is one, and at the end of the day, there are many things in common among people passionate about movement. Three people in the same space. A dancer, a musician, and an acrobat-dancer meet. Their cultural backgrounds, ages, and artistic experiences differ. What do these differences express? Are they superficial, do they define who they are deeply? How do their shared affinities enrich the interaction? The love for movement and music leads to looking beyond differences, to listening to emotions, desires, and common aspirations. All three build a nuanced three-way dialogue in search of shared humanity.
“LUNATIC”
Piece choreographed by participants of the workshop In Motion V
Althea Dance Company
Choreographer: Thea Bautista
Dancers: Alexander Belin, Alix La Chapelle, Alaska von Enzberg, Emile Gayoso, Iona Hilgers, Lovina Koenig, Anna Moskovko, Louisa Pikaar, Giovanna Romero, Lea Thalamy, Nathalie Vigna
Soloïde excerpt
Althea Dance Company
Choreographer: Thea Bautista
Dancers: Thea Bautista, Ludmila Gilles, Jean-Baptiste Plumeau, Alexander Belin (understudy Logan Pedon)
In an age where uncertainty rules, where landmarks change or disappear, in an age that destabilizes our relationship to each other and to the world, the themes of instrospection, isolation, reflection, renewal, and the cycle of history are omnipresent. Is the relationship between what we see and Reality what we actually think it is? Does it change when we are in a group and when we are alone? Seeing without seeing is the risk of a society where information is everywhere and without distinction. The decisions of individuals that result from it mark and redefine the world in which we evolve. How can our daily life, what we know so well and take for granted, suddenly change? The need to readapt and reinvent ourselves is born. It is the crossing of an unknown, mysterious world in which the shadows are both the questions and the answers.
About the Companies
Althea Dance Company is a New York-based contemporary dance company based between New York City and Paris, directed by Thea Bautista. Althea Dance’s work is a blend of contemporary flow and seamless movement, yet very physical, which mixes floor work with the lines and extensions of the dancers. Althea Dance Company focuses on international collaboration with artists from different fields such as writers, musicians, painters or visuals artists. The company explores new ways of sharing dance with the audience and how to reach to people who may not be used to the contemporary dance scene. So far, Althea Dance Company has performed mainly in the US, France and Mexico and is aiming to keep expending its international voice. Althea Dance Company has been in residency at the FEU since 2018. Follow Althea Dance on Facebook and Instagram!
Cardinal Movement and Company investigates the relationships between movement mechanisms and expression. Their work is based in its movement language, Cardinal Movement, which provides the foundation from which the Company communicates, teaches, and creates. Cardinal Movement focuses on three integral elements of study: Alignment, Coordination, and Investigation. Through these elements, they are able to locate themselves in their bodies and in space, develop effective communication with themselves and others, and investigate – through history, music, storytelling, and philosophy – the ways in which we exist within a larger society.
The Compagnie Le Terrain Vague was founded in Nice in 1984. The company’s aim is to bring together artistic and human adventure with the desire to decentralize, to move, and to encounter other worlds; to dare to explore other points of view, to seize new spaces, to find the singular, the plural, the same, the other, to expose oneself as a human being. Dance emrges when we seek access to what the dance is within oneself. In the dancing body, a gesture expresses its need for time, space and quality. Movement creates space. Space exists and lives in movement. The gesture starts from an inner source, broadening the palette of our different facets and digging into unusual places. What allows dance to emerge within is measured, nuanced and constructed through a dialogue between the self, the other, music and dance.
About the Artists
Nikki Holck is a dance artist, educator, and director from Honolulu, Hawaii. She is the Managing Director at Peridance Center in New York City and the Director of Peridance’s Certificate Program. Nikki studied at Queen Emma Ballet, North Carolina School of the Arts, and Canada’s National Ballet School, after which she began her dance career with the National Ballet of Canada. Upon moving to New York, she joined Peridance Contemporary Dance Company. Nikki has performed around the world in Ankara, Tel Aviv, Florence, Bangalore, Hong Kong, at Ted Talks in Istanbul, and on the CBS Morning Show. Other company and performance credits include work with Roya Carreras and Artists, Robert Binet, The Chase Brock Experience, Bennyroyce Dance, Elizabeth Roxas, Vivo Ballet (Enzo Celli), and Elisabetta Minutoli. Nikki has been a collaborator with Kaimera Productions (Paris/NYC), Superhero Clubhouse (NYC), and Company RAu (Istanbul).
Assaf Salhov is a choreographer, performer, and therapist working in New York City. He began his professional career as a dancer with Vertigo 2 Dance Company. He later moved to Europe and graduated with a degree in Choreography and Performance from SEAD Salzburg and continued his studies in choreography at SNDO Amsterdam. He returned to Israel to perform at Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv as an assistant to Director/Choreographer Yehezkel Lazarov. In 2015, Assaf moved to New York and joined the immersive show Sleep No More by Punchdrunk. At the McKittrick Hotel, he wrote, directed, and choreographed Cabaret evenings under the McKittrick Follies. As a Director/Choreographer, Assaf has created more than ten works which have been presented in Israel, Europe, and New York. In 2022, he choreographed for Grammy Award Winning Artist Silvana Estrada. Most recently, Assaf’s work was presented at The Shed at Hudson Yards in New York City and will soon be performed in the L.A. Dance Festival in January 2023.
Daniel Lynch has a lover for life, biology, and movement. Born in Costa Rica to an American father, Daniel is one of the pioneers of parkour in his country. He gradually becomes involved in the world of performing arts while simultaneously studying ecological tourism and sustainable development at the University of Costa Rica. His exploration of movement leads him to become familiar with martial arts, track, capoeira, Chinese pole, and especially contemporary dance. Today, he works for several contemporary circus companies.
Béatrice Mazalto is a choreographer, performer, and teacher in Nice since 1980. “Two thoughts have influenced my vision of dance. One comes from a preference for a pedagogy that emphasizes understanding and the nature of movement – an approach that, following in the footsteps of the pioneers of modern dance, offers a reflection of dance in search of ideals rather than body sculpting. The other arises from my experience of the creative power of dance. Both are intimately connected throughout my journey, in the spirit of Alwin Nikolaïs and other creators of yesterday and today who speak of an inner necessity to live teaching, interpretation, and creation simultaneously.”
Serge Pesce defines himself as a Mediterranean musician, composer, and improviser. For years, he has developed a new way of playing the guitar called “guitare accommodée,” similar to “guitare préparée” but different in terms of the acoustic orientation it offers.
Thea Bautista is a French, Mexican and American dancer and choreographer and she is the founder and artistic director of Althea Dance Company. She started dancing in Paris and decided to come to New York in 2014. She studied music and dance for 10 years at the Maurice Ravel conservatory in Paris and did a one-year program at the Rick Odums International Jazz Dance Center in 2013. She arrived in New York in 2014 and graduated from the Peridance Capezio Center in June 2016. In France, Thea danced for the Ballet Ethéry Pagava and for the Corps à Sons ensemble. More recently she worked on several projects with renowned choreographers such as Charlotta Öfverholm, Milton Myers, Ronald K. Brown, Catherina Rago, Shawn Bible and with companies such as Oniin Dance Company. Today, Thea dances for iKADA Contemporary Dance Company, Althea Dance Company and Azul Dance Theater. Thea choreographed several piece over the last few years such as Eyes opened in 2015, the duet Search (2016) in collaboration with Omer Ephron, Power Imbalance and Multitudes in B Minor in 2017 and Lazar in 2018. Thea recently created her own dance company – Althea Dance Company – and she is currently working on several projects to be presented in New York, France and Mexico.
Ludmila Gilles is a French dancer and choreographer. After completing her training at Rambert School in London, she joined the company Verve where she graduated with a Masters in contemporary dance performance with distinctions. Over the past couple of years, she had the opportunity to work with renowned choreographers such as Botis Seva, Caroline Finn, Barnaby Booth and others. In addition, she started to create her own works to explore her visions on dance and movement in general. She sees dance as an anchor to the present moment, as our bodies are constantly fed by memories and experiences. In that sense, she is interested in dance as a tool to connect, express and share, as an opening to an infinite palette of emotions. When she creates or performs, she explores rawness and vulnerability as a path to thoroughness and power.
Jean-Baptiste is a dancer, choreographer and model from Montpellier, France. He began dancing at the age of 12 and continued his training in classical and contemporary dance in France and Germany . He has danced for many companies , experiencing a wide variety of choreographic styles. He has worked and collaborated with internationally renowned choreographers such as Damien Jalet, Alexander Ekman and Crystal Pite. Jean-Baptiste lives in Paris and works as a freelance artist and choreographer. Among others, he dances in Philippe Lafeuille’s Car/Men. in Paris and on tour. He is also involved in a number of artistic projects in the fields of photography and fashion, and is beginning to develop his own choreographic work.
Alexander Belin is a 18 year old dancer from Sweden. He’s been dancing since the age of 4 and is currently finishing his last year at the Royal Swedish Ballet School. In 2023 he held the solo role in the piece “Ensign” by Jarek Cemerek. He’s been an apprentice in “MELO Collective”, a company lead by the former Ultima Vez dancer Melina Mastrotanasi. Next year he will be working as an apprentice in Giuseppe Spota’s company “Mir Gelsenkirchen” in Germany. Alexander is a very physical dancer who enjoys and values the genuine sensation experienced in movement.