Pointe to Point China 2007

I studied both drama and film (in Berlin and Paris) and was one of the first graduates of P.A.R.T.S. During frequent trips to Asia I have concentrated on comparative study of diverse traditional dance/theatre forms. In 1997 I started out as a performer and then worked as an assistant to the American director Robert Wilson. In 2000, I established Kobalt Works, a Brussels based dance company. Kobalt Works engages in the production of performances as well as in activities which promote interchange between contemporary and traditional artists in the Europe and Asia. Dance can express what we cannot think! This also evokes its paradoxical relation with time: ephemeral art form par excellence, it yet connects to cultural, historic or simply human pasts and origins (very clearly with the traditional performing arts). It is fascinating to me that dance actualizes the past; and contemporary dance, by means of this actualization, addresses aspects of an infinite range of contemporary questions.

I am currently director of Evolving Motion and work as a Lecturer in dance at The University of Winchester in the UK. I received a Ba (Hons) from University of Surrey and an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College New York, as a Fulbright Scholar and under the direction of the late Viola Farber-Slayton. I completed a professional certification at the Merce Cunningham Studio and worked as a freelance practitioner at Laban, Roehampton University and various vocational courses in London. Since 1998, my company (previously Cathy Seago and dancers) has received awards in support of choreographic research and performance in Europe, the US and SE Asia. I am engaged in creating new work, setting repertoire pieces, performing and guest teaching internationally. Most recently, I was Artist in Residence with Odyssey Dance Theatre in Singapore and Guest Artist at the Taipei National University of the Arts. My recent work, How we know we are here has toured in London and SE England, Taipei, Edinburgh, Paris and Singapore. I have been involved in Dance all my life, engaged in the process of enquiry that is to search and re-search the body; it’s knowledge, experience, stories and identity. The quest for me is to discover the knowledge which is felt; stored in the body of experience and made real through motion and the mechanics and expression of movement; “that fleeting moment when you feel alive” (M. Cunningham), with or without interpretation or translation.

I was first introduced to Modern Jazz dance before entering the Michel Hallet-Eghayan Contemporary Dance School in Lyon in 1997, and have been involved in dance and choreography ever since. While completing my dance training, I obtained my degree in French Literature and attended drama classes at Jacqueline Dorian’s Compagnie de l’Imaginaire. In 2003, I obtained a Teaching License in Contemporary Dance and taught at the Besançon Dance National Conservatory and University. Since 2000, I have collaborated with numerous theatre and dance projects and companies. After an encounter with Susan Buirge in 2004, I decided to tackle dance from a different angle and started to choreograph. In 2005, I founded my own company, HOMNIBUS Compagnie, developing choreographic and performance projects, where I explore the relationship between poetry and choreographic language. I am passionate about the workings of the body – both the visual impact and the movement potential. I am fascinated how a human body relates to its environment, to other people’s bodies through some mysterious alchemy and, more generally, with nature and with the universe. At the moment, I am developing new projects in movement, painting, literature, environment and social behaviours, especially with the Musée des Beaux Arts of Besançon.

I was born and grew up on the remote and isolated Faroe Islands but moved to England at the age of 16 to study dance at Leeds Dance College. When I finished my studies, I moved to Denmark to work as a dancer for a couple of years and then decided to move back to London to continue my education at London Contemporary Dance School. I graduated with a first class honours degree in contemporary dance in 2004. Since the completion of my training, I have been dancing and choreographing in Montreal, London, Berlin and Copenhagen, where I am currently living. After winning the Danish choreographing competition “Dansolution” at Dansescenen in 2005, I have been collaborating with different artists on mixed media projects. I am very interested in collaborative work and would like to further investigate this area. It’s interesting to see what happens when different cultures meet and how, by challenging each other’s preconceived notions of art forms, new ideas emerge. I am very influenced by what happens around me, and therefore I’m very determined to keep challenging myself by meeting and working with different people from different backgrounds. This is what makes it possible to constantly develop one’s individual artistic expression.

I was born in Toronto to a Canadian father and Polish mother. Dance has been a part of my life from a very young age and I have always searched for new horizons and influences. I began my dance training in Toronto as a member of Canadian Children’s dance theatre. I later studied at the University of Toronto and the University of Paris, before attending P.A.R.T.S., Performing Arts Research and Training Studios, in Brussels. Perhaps because of my own multicultural past, I felt that it was important for me to become more aware of other cultures and their artistic heritages. This was one of my main motivations for moving to Europe. Working in Eastern Europe periodically over the last two years has helped me to discover the strong theatre tradition that developed in Poland which has had widespread historical influence. Music has always been a natural partner throughout my dance training and development. In my choreographic work, music plays an important role, albeit one that is never fixed or taken for granted. In my own work I try to move between the intellectual on the one hand, and the emotional on the other. Until recently I have been very much influenced by a Western musical tradition and history and can see a natural continuity between classical music and Rock/pop music. Since graduating in 2004, I have created the artistic label “Rebecca September” to produce work in collaboration with other artists.

I was born in Bari, Italy. Having received a MSc in Industrial Chemistry, I was accepted into the Milan Academy Of Music under the direction of Susana Beltrami. I followed a 3-years, multi-discipline course, embracing ballet, contemporary and modern dance, theatre and music, after which I took the 5th year at the “London School of Contemporary Dance”. I completed my studies at “Centro della Denza Aterballetto” (Reggio Emilia/Italy). Since then, I have collaborated with various choreographers and directors from Europe. What I feel most passionate about in contemporary art is the opportunity for experimentation. To translate the concrete reality into something more poetic and abstract is what inspires me. This is an area that I have always been passionate about and that I have engaged with in my recent work. A period of experimentation led to my first work “Mademoiselle” which I have performed at numerous French festivals and was awarded first prize at the “Les Synodales” competition in Fontainebleau (Paris). Returning to my origins (south Italy) I have created my personal tie between traditional music of the south Italy and the contemporary dance.