Features > PostcardsArtists write from the field

A POSTCARD from DANSE: A French-American Festival of Performance and Ideas

Anticipating the 3-Week Dance Festival
taking place throughout NYC from May 1-18, 2014
 

DANSE: A French-American Festival of Performance and Ideas is presented by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in fond remembrance of the late dancer and choreographer Alain Buffard (1960-2013).
 

Cecilia Bengolea & François Chaignaud in “altered natives’ Say Yes to Another Excess – Twerk." Photo © Emilie Zeizig
Perform at The Kitchen from May 3-5.
 

The three-week festival spanning from May 1–18 includes fifteen U.S. premieres by France-based artists, a series of public talks highlighting issues crucially connected to contemporary dance today, as well as the release of two publications.

Edmond Russo & Shlomi Tuizer / Affari Esteri in “Embrace." Photo © Agathe Poupeney
Presented as part of La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival from May 2-4.
 

DANSE is the culmination of hard, heartfelt work put in by choreographers, dancers, and presenters in France and the United States. NYC-based collaborators include Abrons Arts Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC), Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Chez Bushwick/Center for Performance Research (CPR), The Chocolate Factory Theater, Danspace Project, French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), The Invisible Dog Art Center, The Joyce Theater, Julie Meneret Contemporary Art, The Kitchen, La MaMa, MoMA PS1, and New York Live Arts.

Lyon Opera Ballet in “ni fleurs, ni ford-mustang” with choreography by Christian Rizzo. Photo © Michael Cavalca
Performance at BAM Howard Gilman Opera House from May 7-9.

The participating artists were selected by the said organizations as an apt representation of what makes the current dance practice in France original and dynamic.

Pierre Rigal in “Micro.” Photo © Pierre Grosbois
Performance at The Joyce Theater from May 13-18.

“It is our hope that DANSE will be an important forum for dialogue on dance’s impactful place in contemporary life, and for continuing the historic artistic partnership between France and the U.S,” said Antonin Baudry, Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy.

Merveilleux!