DREAM TEAM

World premieres of Virginie Brunelle and The Blue Bride by Barak Marshall
Premiere of Eric Gauthier, Podcast Vol. 1 & 2
as well as Alejandro Cerrudo, Lickety-Split and Nacho Duato, Jardi Tancat

One year after their sensationally successful debut with RENAISSANCE, the Gauthier Dance JUNIORS are following up with a second program of their own, consisting of two world premieres, two tried and tested classics of contemporary dance and a completely new podcast format with host Eric Gauthier. The original title of the concept evening was: Something old something new something borrowed something blue, as the Anglo-Saxon tradition demands for wedding dresses. And indeed, each of the four pieces refers to one of the four elements of luck. Together they should also bring the Gauthier Dance JUNIORS good luck for their future in dance!

Something old: Jardi Tancat (Catalan for an enclosed garden) is a very appropriate choice for the JUNIORS. Nacho Duato also created his choreographic debut from 1983 for a young company, the NDT 2. The atmospheric piece is named after the album of the same name by Catalan folk singer Maria del Mar Bonet, an icon of resistance against the Franco regime. The lyrics and the dance of the three couples dressed in earthy colors evoke the hard peasant life in the tireless struggle against the aridity and barrenness of the Catalan soil.

Something new: Virginie Brunelle is considered one of the great hopes of Canadian dance. Anyone familiar with her two previous collaborations with Gauthier Dance will confirm this. The intimate, poetic group piece Beating for the concept evening Grandes Dames aimed to synchronize the heartbeats of the performers. In the passionate solo Off White for The Dying Swans Project, which she created via Zoom from Canada during the pandemic, she had a dancer run up a storm against loneliness. Her next world premiere for the JUNIORS is already in the pipeline. The excitement is building!

Something borrowed: Lickety-Split - in German, unverzüglich, blitzschnell - comes across as rather relaxed, above all very human and humorous, despite its fast-paced title. To the hypnotic music of Californian indie folk singer Devendra Banhart, Alejandro Cerrudo, then the resident choreographer of Hubbard Street Dance Company Chicago, sketched the encounter of three couples: sensual, enigmatic and with a touch of eccentricity. In one of its first seasons, Gauthier Dance included the piece in its program as part of the 2011 dance evening Lucky Seven. Now it's time to pass this dance jewel on to the next young Theaterhaus company ...

Something blue: Barak Marshall's The Blue Bride is a tongue-in-cheek lesson about doomed love and the dangers of naivety, blind obedience and jealousy. In the style of a morality tale, it begins with the bride at the altar waiting in vain for her groom and ends with a gruesomely funny wedding massacre. The color blue in the title alludes to the psychological instability of the abused bride, who mutates into an avenger and murderer in the course of the play. Sarcastic, funny and accompanied by love songs from all over the world, The Blue Bride promises to be an extremely entertaining, fast-paced tragicomedy.

In addition to the four lucky charm choreographies, Eric Gauthier explores a very special new format that brings the claim "Dream Team" to life. As the host of a podcast format, he will talk about the topic of artistic collaboration in two blocks - just like in a radio show. In Podcast Vol. 1, he interviews the choreographers involved: How does the artistic approach differ in a group piece compared to solos or pas de deux? Podcast Vol. 2 features conversations with the performers - the JUNIORS. How does dance collaboration work best? And when and how does the "dream team spirit" arise?

Participants
Choreography
Virginie Brunelle
Barak Marshall
Eric Gauthier
Alejandro Cerrudo
Nacho Duato
Artistic Director
Eric Gauthier
Ballet Mistress
Tara Yipp
dance
Rebecca Amoroso
Rong Chang
Atticus Dobbie
Garance Goutard-Dekeyser
Joan Jansana Escobedo
Mathilde Roberge