BABEL(words) - NZ Premiere 21 March

Photo: Koen Broos

**NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE**

BABEL (words)

***** The most fiercely resonant dance theatre of the decade. – The Guardian

The most innovative dance piece of the year. – Tanznetz.de

An avalanche of surprising images, full of humour, imagination and poetry. – Le Soir, Brussels

Choreographers: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet
Visual Concept and Design: Antony Gormley

Thursday 21 - Saturday 23 March, 2013
The Civic, Auckland

Babel (words) is an infinitely beautiful dance-theatre masterpiece that was created by two of Europe’s hottest dancer / choreographers, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet, and has swept the world with huge acclaim. After a sell-out season as the must-see show in the 2012 Sydney Festival, in March 2013 Babel (words) is coming to Auckland Arts Festival for its New Zealand premiere.

Immersive and multi-layered, and the recipient of one of Britain’s most sought after theatre awards, an Olivier, Babel (words) explores the world of language and the languages of the world. Beneath a towering set of aluminium cubes designed by artist Antony Gormley, the 13 dancers, who speak 15 languages between them, beat out fierce, fragile and deeply delicate rhythms as they transform their bodies into a swirling maelstrom of identity, ethnicity and culture.

The work is the final installation of a triptych created by Cherkaoui. Collaborating with fellow Belgian Jalet and revered British sculptor and artist Antony Gormley, this work explores the familiar terrain of human difference – the illusions that both divide and unite us, and the boundaries and borders that shape the world.

Inspired by the biblical tale of the Tower of Babel, Babel (words) challenges the notion that people are divided by different languages, proposing instead that rhythm and music are universal languages. Majestically executed with five musicians playing live on stage, Babel (words) has a score that fuses Hindi beats, Japanese drumming and melancholic, medieval flute and harp.

Moroccan-Belgian Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is one of Europe’s leading choreographers. He has made more than 15 fully-fledged choreographic pieces and picked up a slew of awards, including the Fringe First Award in Edinburgh, the Special Prize at the BITEF Festival in Belgrade, the Promising Choreographer prize at the Nijinsky Awards in Monte Carlo, the Movimentos Award in Germany and an Australian Helpmann Award. In 2008 Sadler’s Wells named him an Associate Artist and in 2009 the Alfred Toëpfer Stiftung conferred its Kairos Prize to him in recognition of his artistic philosophy and his quest for cultural dialogue. In 2008 and 2011 Cherkaoui was declared Choreographer of the Year by the dance magazine Tanz.

In 2000, French-Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet began an intense collaboration with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui as his artistic partner with the company Les Ballets C De La B. In 2002 he created D'avant in collaboration with Cherkaoui, Luc Dunberry and Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola. The work is still touring worldwide with Sasha Waltz and Guests.

Antony Gormley’s work has been exhibited extensively at major international galleries and museums including the Tate, Hayward, Whitechapel and Serpentine galleries in the UK; the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. Over the last 25 years, he has revitalised the human image in sculpture through a radical investigation of the body as a place of memory and transformation, using his own body as subject, tool and material. He has created some of the most ambitious and iconic works of contemporary British sculpture, including Field, Angel of the North at Gateshead, Quantum Cloud on the Thames in London, and Another Place, now permanently sited on Crosby Beach near Liverpool.

www.aaf.co.nz
SEASON DETAILS

CREATIVE CREDITS

Choreographers: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet
Visual Concept and Design: Antony Gormley
Performers: Darryl E. Woods, Jon Filip Fahlstrøm, Damien Fournier, Christine Leboutte, Kazutomi Kozuki, Helder Seabra, Sandra Porcell Delgadillo
Musicians: Kazunari Abe, Patrizia Bovi, Mahabub Khan, Sattar Khan, Gabriele Miracle
Assistant choreographer: Nienke Reehorst
Costume design: Alexandra Gilbert
Light design: Adam Carrée
Dramaturge: Lou Cope
Production: Eastman

With support from the Garrick Charitable Trust and the Flemish authorities.

ENDS

© Scoop Media