DATE AND VENUE

18.11.2017, 20.30, Zorlu PSM Main Theatre

Lasts app. 80’; no intermission.

BALLET PRELJOCAJ

• Production: Ballet Preljocaj
• Co-Produced by: Grand Théâtre de Provence, Maison des Arts de Créteil, Théâtre de la Ville - Paris / Chaillot - théâtre national de la danse, Scène Nationale d’Albi, National Taichung Theater (Taïwan)
• Choreography: Angelin Preljocaj
• Music: Nicolas Godin
• Costume Design: Azzedine Alaïa
• Set Design and Videos: Constance Guisset Studio
• Light Design: Éric Soyer
• Assistant, Deputy to the Artistic Direction: Youri Aharon Van den Bosch
• Abseiling Trainer: Natalia Naidich
• Choreologist: Dany Lévêque

Angelin Preljocaj will be presented with the Honorary Award after the performance.

Subsidised by Culture and Communication Ministry – DRAC PACA, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region, Département of the Bouches-du-Rhône, Métropole Aix-Marseille Provence / Territory of the Pays d’Aix, City of Aix-en-Provence.
Supported by Groupe Partouche – Casino Municipal d’Aix-Thermal, individuals and companies sponsors, and private partners.

Istanbul Theatre Festival celebrates its return to an annual cycle by hosting La Fresque of Angelin Preljocaj, groundbreaking choreographer who made a tremendous impact worldwide. He is one of the very few choreographers trained in both classical ballet and contemporary dance. Angelin Preljocaj builds his choreography on a Chinese tale. La Fresque exultantly conveys the adventure of two exhausted travelers following a monk who invites them to come and look at a fresco picturing women. This symbolic quest for a painting, in a timeless China, gives life to a masterpiece that glorifies the power of art in our modern times. In a world fascinated by technology, Angelin Preljocaj’s imagination is the only place where a contemporary ballet dedicated to the art of painting could have sprung. La Fresque is an epic, dizzying, and meditative experiment in motion that turns into a musical sculpture putting together, scores by Nicolas Godin, of electronic duo Air and costumes designed by celebrated fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa. It is also a fiery, bold, modern and probing dance performance... If you think that you are not into ballet or modern dance, La Fresque will turn your conviction upside down.

Supported by Teatroskop, FranceDanse Orient-Express (Teatroskop is a program initiated by the French Institute, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France.)

ANGELIN PRELJOCAJAngelin Preljocaj was born in Paris and began studying classical ballet before turning to contemporary dance, under the tutorship of, Karin Waehner. In 1980, he went to New York to work with Zena Rommett and Merce Cunningham and resumed his studies in France with, choreographers Viola Farber and Quentin Rouillier. In December 1984, he joined Dominique Bagouet before finding his own company. His productions are now part of the repertoire of many companies, many of which also commission original production from him, notably La Scala of Milan, the New York City Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet. Additionally, he has made short films (Le postier, Idées noires in 1991) and several full-length films, such as Un trait d’union and Annonciation (1992 and 2003), winning the “Grand Prix du Film d’Art” in 2003, the “Vidéo-Danse” First Prize in 1992 and the Prague Video Festival Prize in 1993. He directed Blanche Neige (Snow White), in 2009. Since then he has collaborated on several films of his own choreographic work with Cyril Collard (Les Raboteurs, based on the painting by Gustave Caillebotte) in 1988, Pierre Coulibeuf (Pavillon Noir) in 2006 and Olivier Assayas (Eldorado/ Preljocaj) in 2007. Made with Valérie Müller, the first full-length feature film by Angelin Preljocaj, Polina, danser sa vie, adapted from the graphic novel by Bastien Vivès, came out in cinemas on November 2016. Several books have been written about his work, including Angelin Preljocaj (2003), Pavillon Noir (2006), Angelin Preljocaj, Topologie de l’invisible (2008), Angelin Preljocaj, de la création à la mémoire de la danse (2011). Throughout the course of his career, Angelin Preljocaj has received numerous awards, such as the “Grand Prix National de la Danse” awarded by the French Ministry of Culture in 1992, the “Benois de la danse” for Le Parc in 1995, the “Bessie Award” for Annonciation in 1997, “Les Victoires de la Musique” for Roméo et Juliette in 1997, the “Globe de Cristal” for Blanche Neige in 2009. He was named “Officier des Arts et des Lettres” and “Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur” and was appointed as “Officier de l’ordre du Mérite” in May 2006. He has received the Samuel H. Scripps/ American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2014. Since October 2006, the Ballet Preljocaj and its 24 permanent dancers have been residing at the Pavillon Noir in Aix-en-Provence, a building entirely dedicated to dance, with Angelin Preljocaj as its artistic director.

NICHOLAS GODIN (Music) After seven albums as one half of celebrated musical duo AIR, Nicolas Godin’s first solo album Contrepoint has reached back in time to move further forward. Four years in the making, Contrepoint is a dazzling recording that conjoins Godin’s habitual musical fusions - drawn from modern pop, film soundtracks and retrospective pop (soft rock, exotica, ‘80s Eurodance, Yé-yé) - with the classical forms of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 2003, Nicolas Godin has created with Air music band, the Angelin Preljocaj’s music spectacle: Near Life Experience.

AZZEDINE ALAïA (Costume Design) After attending the École des Beaux-Arts in Tunis, Azzedine Alaïa came to Paris in the late 1950s. It was an important time because it led him to meet Louise de Vilmorin, Simone Zehrfuss and Arletty. In the 1960s, he worked for Cécile de Rothschild, Claudette Colbert and Greta Garbo. He successfully presented his first ready-to-wear collection in 1980 in Paris, and in 1984 opened his first store. In 1989, he designed the famous dress in the colours of the French flag worn by Jessye Norman for the Bicentenary of the French Revolution, and dedicated a pearl mini dress to Tina Turner. Azzedine Alaïa has become the spokesperson for modernity in tradition, sublimating women with skilful cutting and unusual combinations of fabric.

CONSTANCE GUISSET (Set Design and Videos) After studying at the ESSEC business school and the Institute of Political Science in Paris, plus spending a year in the Tokyo parliament, Constance Guisset graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle in 2007 before setting up her own studio. She has won several awards, including the Grand Prix du Design from the City of Paris, the Public Prize at the Design Parade festival in Hyères in 2008, the Audi Talent Award in 2010 and the best stage design award at Designer’s Days in 2011. In 2013, she has created for Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior Parfums.

ÉRIC SOYER (Light Design) After studying ephemeral architectures at the École Boulle, he designed stage sets and lighting for many directors and choreographers on the stages of Europe. He worked with the writer-director Joël Pommerat in 1997, who has worked on the creation of a repertoire of twenty repeated shows by the Louis Brouillard company. He has been responsible for about ten projects since 2006 with Hermès, for who he has created the lighting arenas of the Salon de Musique. His activities also extend from street art with the Collectif Bonheur Intérieur Brut, to music with the French singer Jeanne Added and contemporary opera with composers Oscar Strasnoy, Oscar Bianchi, Daan Jansen, Philippes Boesmans and Ondrej Adamek. He received the French journalistic critic prize for his work in 2008 and 2012.