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(M)IMOSA
”(M)IMOSA”, a choreographic collaboration between Cecilia Bengolea, Francois Chaignaud, Marlene Freitas, and Trajal Harrell, is the title given to the Medium version of Harrell’s series in five sizes, (XS) – (XL), entitled ”Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church”. The propositional departure for the series- ”What would have happened in 1963, if someone from the voguing ball scene had come down to Judson Church in Greenwich Village to perform alongside the early postmoderns?” — is not addressed but reconfigured by ”(M)IMOSA” into a encounter between these four artistic voices.
The Voguing dance tradition refers to the competitive balls staged in Harlem dance halls beginning in the 1960’s. A form of social performance practiced primarily by African-American and Latino gays, transvestites, and transsexuals, voguing imitates archetypal social and gender identities through fashion, movement, and behavior. At the same historical moment, in the 1960’s, the pioneers of the postmodern dance broke with the traditional representations of classical and modern dance and sought to make dance without artifice, based in authenticity.
Inspired by ”Paris is Burning”, the seminal documentary film about voguing; their personal research on voguing; and their collective experience as makers, the four collaborators in ”(M)IMOSA” dare to own and share the immediate distance between themselves, between them and their inspiration, between what they portend and what they perform, and between their counteracts.
- About Cecilia Bengolea
Cecilia Bengolea, born in Argentina. Studied at the University of History of Art in Buenos Aires 1998-2001. In 2004, she followed Exer.ce., Mathilde Monnier’s research program in Montpellier. She has collaborated with Joao Fiadeiro, Claudia Triozzi, Edouard Levé, Marc Tompkins, Yves-Nöel Genod, Joris Lacoste, Alice Chauchat, Alain Buffard, Mathilde Monnier.
- About François Chaignaud
François Chaignaud, graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse (CNSM) in Paris (2002). Since then he has collaborated as a dancer with various choreographers such as Boris Chamartz, Emmanuelle Huynh, Gilles Jobin, Tiago Guedes, Alain Buffard. Since 2004 he has shown several performances and concerts on different stages in France and Europe : ”Pompè – procession urbaine” (2004), ”He’s one that goes To sea for nothing but to make him sick” (2005), ”La Culture des Individu.e.s” (2006), ”Aussi bien que ton coeur, ouvre-moi les genoux” (2008). He is also collaborating with swiss artist Marie Caroline Hominal (”Duchesses”, a minimal hulla hoop performance), with french model Benjamin Dukhan and with american legendary drag queen Rumi Missabu from the Cockettes. Additionally, he has recently published ”L’Affaire Berger-Levrault – les féminismes à l’épreuve”, a book about french early feminism.
Since 2005, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea have worked together. They have created three pieces based on very intense disposal ”Pâquerette” (2008), ”Sylphides” (2009) and ”Castor & Pollux” (2010). They have also reprised and restaged free dances from the 20’s and are currently working on a new production to be premiered during La Biennale de Lyon (september 2012).
- About Trajal Harrell
Trajal Harrell is a dancer-choreographer based in New York City. His work has been presented In New York and the U.S. at many venues including The Kitchen, American Realness Festival, ICA Boston, Danspace Project, Crossing the Line Festival, DTW, P.S. 122, Cornell University, and Colorado College, among others. Internationally, his work has toured in France, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Poland, Croatia, Portugal, and Mexico, and has been presented in international festivals such as Rencontres Chorégraphiques, Festival d’Avignon, ImpulsTanz-Vienna, and Panorama Festival- Rio de Janeiro, among others. He has also shown work in visual art contexts such as The New Museum, The Margulies Art Warehouse (Miami), The Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art (NYC), The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Art Basel-Miami Beach, The Rosa de la Cruz Collection (Miami), ICA Boston, Fondation Cartier (Paris), and Performa Biennial 2011. His works ”Quartet for the End of Time”, ”Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church (S)”, along with ”(M)imosa were chosen” by TimeOut-NY Magazine as one of the best dances of 2008, 2009, and 2011, respectively.
- About Marlene Monteiro Freitas
Marlene Monteiro Freitas was born in Cabo Verde where she was member and co-founder of the dance group Compass and collaborated with the musician Vasco Martins. After her dance studies at P.A.R.T.S. (Brussels), at E.S.D. and at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon), she developed a dance project with the community of Cova da Moura (Lisbon), under the idea we will not have dance classes, we will rehearse. She regularly works with Emmanuelle Huynn, Loic Touzé, Tânia Carvalho, Boris Charmatz, among others. Her creations include ”(M)imosa” (2011), a project developed together with Trajal Harell, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea, ”Guintche” (2010), ”A Seriedade do Animal” (2009-10), ”Uns e Outros” (2008), ”A Improbabilidade da Certeza” (2006), ”Larvar” (2006), ”Primeira Impressão” (2005), works whose common denominator is openness, impurity and intensity. She’s a member of the collective Bomba Suicida, based in Lisbon.
- Credits
Choreography & performed by: Cecilia Bengolea, François Chaignaud, Trajal Harrell, Marlene Monteiro Freitas. Lighting design: Yannick Fouassier. Chaussures: La Bourette. Light manager: Sylvain Rausa. Sound manager: Enora Le Gall. Co-production: Le Quartz – Scène nationale de Brest, Théâtre National de Chaillot, Centre de Développement Chorégraphique, The Kitchen, Bomba Suicida, FUSED. Supported by: La Ménagerie de Verre, des Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, DRAC Poitou-Charentes, Institut Français, Départs. Thanks to: Matthieu Banvillet, Sarah Michelson, DD Dorvillier, Ben Pryor, Lasseindra Ninja, Alex Mugler, Rumi Missabu, Pascal Queneau, Archie Burnett, Javier Madrid, Matthieu Bajolet, Donatien Veismann, Miguel Bengolea, Marianne Chargois, Joao Figueira, Rio Rutzinger, Emmanuelle Huynh, Jessica Trossman. With the support of the DEPARTS network. DEPARTS is funded by the European Commission, Culture program.
- Speltider
Cecilia Bengolea, François Chaignaud, Trajal Harrell, Marlene Monteiro Freitas
(M)IMOSA Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church (M)
(Photo: Paula Court)
(Photo: Paula Court)
(Photo: Paula Court)
(Photo: Paula Court)