Carolyn Carlson “Seeds”

In 2006, Carolyn Carlson created her solo Double Vision in close partnership with the artist Yacine Aït Kaci. In this solo, the space was echoing the body, the stage was an immense projection screen, the gigantic costumes were the skin of an image in perpetual movement.

Today, Carolyn and Yacine (YAK) initiate a new creation, this time aimed at young audiences. Carolyn choreographs; Yacine animates ELYX, a small drawned figure placed in a real world in order to open our eyes on what is surrounding us, and transform reality with the only power of our imagination.

Seeds is a joyful ode to Mother Earth, as much as a call to the future generations for a greater awareness of environmental urgency and the danger of daily extinctions of many living species.

The performers imagine the world of tomorrow: a couple of Japanese dancers who are becoming aware of the danger; a third dancer, mirror image of Elyx on stage, questioning the audience both young and old alike, all coming from a seed; and Elyx, who in a way is the fourth dancer, as a whistleblower angel.

The title, Seeds, deals with themes such as birth, or rebirth, an ode to hope: seeds will be spread, virtually or physically, for the blooming of new ideas and desires, to celebrate life.

Carolyn Carlson Company “The Carolyn Carlson Company is a hive of activity, an area of creativity and freedom in which intertwine gesture and poetic thought...”

January 2014: after nine years as director of the CCN de Roubaix Nord-Pas de Calais, Carolyn Carlson returns to Paris and funds her company, the Carolyn Carlson Company (CCCy).

With a unique repertory and accompanied by dancers true to her poetical gesture, Carolyn pursues her creative process: each year, the Carolyn Carlson Company carries out at least two large scale projects, a creation and the transmission of repertoire pieces to the most prestigious international ballets, while continuing touring the choreographers’ creations worldwide.

Now in residence in the Théâtre National de Chaillot, the Company is at the very center of the Parisian choreographic scene. Carolyn Carlson proposes improvisational sessions concerning her unique technique from the heritage of Alwin Nikolaïs, including the transmission of her repertoire, and artistic encounters to share with the public.

Carolyn Carlson

California-born Carolyn Carlson defines herself first and foremost as a nomad. From San Francisco Bay to the University of Utah, from the Alwin Nikolaïs company in New York to Anne Béranger’s in France, from Paris Opera Ballet to Teatrodanza La Fenice in Venice, from the Théâtre de la Ville de Paris to Helsinki, from Ballet Cullberg to La Cartoucherie in Paris, from the Venice Biennale to Roubaix, Carlson is a tireless traveller, always seeking to develop and share her poetic universe.

She arrived in France in 1971 the beneficiary of Alwin Nikolaïs’ ideas about movement, composition and teaching. The following year, with Rituel pour un rêve mort, she wrote a poetic manifesto that defined an approach to her work that she has adhered to ever since: dance that is strongly oriented towards philosophy and spirituality. Carlson prefers the term ‘visual poetry’ to ‘choreography’ to describe her work.

For four decades, Carlson has had significant influence and success in many European countries. She played a key role in the birth of French and Italian contemporary dance through the GRTOP (theatre research group) at Paris Opera Ballet and Teatrodanza at La Fenice.

She has created over 100 pieces, a large number of which are landmarks in the history of dance, including Density 21.5, The Year of the Horse, Blue Lady, Steppe, Maa, Signes, Writings on Water and Inanna. In 2006, her work was rewarded with the first ever Golden Lion given to a choreographer by the Venice Biennale.

Founder of the Atelier de Paris-Carolyn Carlson at the Cartoucherie in 1999, she is now, since 2014 and for a two-year period, associated artist to Théâtre National de Chaillot, where the Carolyn Carlson Company has settled.

May 30, 2017 Studio Theater, Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center