Les Productions Figlio News

Serge Bennathan Talks About Elles

administrator — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:12:44 +0000

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Winner of the Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award, Dance 2012

administrator — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:10:19 +0000

Winner of the Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award, Dance 2012

On Serge Bennathan’s The Invisible Life of Joseph Finch: “Days after watching it, I still find myself amazed by the luminous lyricism of this heartbreakingly beautiful production. There was poetry in even the littlest details…” - The Straits Times

Elles is the expression of choreographer Serge Bennathan ’s desire to be confronted once again by feminine strength, passion and depth. This work explores the visceral, raw physicality of women coming from different geographical points, bringing with them different approaches and languages of dance.

Music by Bertrand Chenier; set by Jay Gower Taylor; produced by Allyson McGrane.

Les Productions Figlio Wins the 2012 Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award

administrator — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:50:24 +0000


Ann Marie Flemming accepting the Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award on behalf of Les Productions Figlio	The 2012 Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award

Rio Tinto Alcan Award 2012

administrator — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:41:58 +0000


Ann Marie Flemming accepting the Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award on behalf of Les Productions Figlio	The 2012 Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award

The Vancouver Observers take on Conversations

administrator — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 18:59:56 +0000

The Vancouver Observers Day Helesic has written an article about Conversations. Interested parties can read her work by Clicking Here

Conversations: Opening Night and A sneek peek

administrator — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:13:57 +0000

Les Productions Figlio's Conversations premiere begins tonight at the Scotia Bank Dance Centre in Vancouver. Tickets are still available for the run.

Below are a few stills of Les Productioins Figlio's Conversations:

Photography by Tim Matheson

Conversations: On Poetry and The Artists

administrator — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:20:13 +0000

The two artists selected for Conversations: Vancouver-based Billy Marchenski (left) and Toronto-based Danny Wild (right)

Now that you learned a little bit more about the life of the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca on the last entry, let's talk about the inspiration and conception behind Serge Bennathan's new play Conversations.

The piece, which is based on the imaginary encounter between Lorca and his assassin Juan Luis Trescastro, is composed of two monologues. Each of them works independently, happens parallelly, but they respond to each other. This form of writing allowed Bennathan to mix abstraction and narrative and to oppose more clearly the brutality of one against the poetry of the other.

“Poetry has an essential place in my work”, says Bennathan, “and I want to give it a place ar all levels in this work – through words, through the physicality of the two interpreters, through the delicate imagery that the set and lighting will provide in contrast with a text and a physicality that will be extreme.”

The artists chosen for Conversations include the Vancouver-based Billy Marchenski and Toronto-based Danny Wild. Marchenski, according to Bennathan, is a magnificent actor that can dance, and Wild a magnificent dancer that can act. James Proudfoot, the lighting designer, and Jay Gower Taylor, the set designer worked closely together to create a sense of intimacy and pressure, which are crucial to Conversations. The composer John Gzowski has a superb knowledge of world music and is highly influenced by Spanish music, which is predominant in the play. Completing the team is costume designer Nancy Bryant, who is really excited to work with Conversations, as the costumes are from her favourite period, the '30s.

In a co-presentation by Chutzpah! Festival and The Scotiabank Dance Centre, Conversations will be premiered on February 10-12 @ 8pm, at the Scotiabank Dance Centre, as part of Chutzpah! Festival. Tickets are available for $16-$25, plus taxes and service charges, at T ickets Tonight

Stay tuned for more information about Les Productions Figlio exciting new project Conversations. And don't forget to check us out at Facebook and follow us on Twitter for first hand news about Conversations and Les Productions Figlio.

Conversations: Federico Garcia Lorca

administrator — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 12:41:12 +0000

Federico Garcia Lorca, one of the greatest representants of Spanish literature, aged 21

Following the success of his previews works, Serge Bennathan is ready to premier his long-awaited new project Conversations. To mark this special occasion, he is returning to Vancouver's highly anticipated Chutzpah! Festival, the same event where he premiered his first play, the acclaimed The Invisible Life of Joseph Finch, four years ago.

Conversations is an imaginary encounter between the Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca and his assassin Juan Luis Trescastro, portrayed by Billy Marchanski and Danny Wild.

Lorca was the younger member of the Generación del 27 (Generation of '27), an influencial group of Spanish poets that arose in Spain in the 20's, and his work is considered to be one of the highest exponents of the Generación del 27 and of the Spanish literature as a whole.

His first book Impresiones y Paisajes (Impressions and Landscapes) was published in 1918, when he was only 20 years old, and 10 years after that, in 1928, one of his most acclaimed books was published. Romancero Gitano (Gypsy Ballads) is composed of eighteen romances, a typical Spanish style of poem which uses the metric combination of the same name, and is featured at Le Monde's 100 books of the century. You can find Lorca's complete work, in Spanish, here.

After the fall of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera in 1930, the Spanish Republic was re-established and Lorca was named co-director of the state theatre company La Barraca (the hut). Although Lorca never joined any political party, and never discriminated nor distanced himself from any of his friends because of political reasons, working as co-director of La Barraca, he was serving the Republic.

In July of 1936 the Spanish Civil War broke out, and one month later Lorca was arrested. According to the most recent investigations, it is believed that Federico Garcia Lorca was shot on August 19th 1936. Thousands of people were going to the place where they thought Lorca was buried, however in 2009 when Lorca's family finally gave permission to dig the site and remove the body, nothing was found, and the location of his body remains a mistery. Lorca was killed because he was republican, and also because he was homosexual, an unforgivable crime at that time in Spain.

The story of Federico Garcia Lorca sets the foundations of Conversations.The piece uses excerpts of Lorca's poetry and the brief period between his incarceration and assassination to inspire its imagery, and the audience will be able to watch it up-close at the Scotiabank Dance Centre's black box space. Serge Bennathan's vision for this project was to "create a space where the audience will be on all four sides, quite close to the edge. It's not a piece to be performed in a theatre, on a stage. It's a piece that I would like to be performed anywhere.”

Stay tunned for more information about Les Productions Figlio exciting new project Conversations. And don't forget to check us out at Facebook and follow us on Twitter for first hand news about Conversations and Les Productions Figlio.

The History and Future of Les Productions Figlio

administrator — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:58:21 +0000

Serge Bennathan, the creative force behind Les Productions Figlio

Les Productions Figlio was founded by Artistic Director Serge Bennathan with the intention to create artistic works that break creative barriers. His projects encompass theatre, dance, music, multi-media, visual art and literary works.

The company's very first project, and also Bennathan's first play, The Invisible Life of Joseph Finch, premiered in 2007 at the Chutzpah! Festival and was performed in Whitehorse's Yukon Arts Centre, Montreal's Wildside Festival and Singapore, at the Singapore Fringe Festival 2008 for its theme of Art and History, and came back to Vancouver to the 2099 edition of Chutzpah! Festival.

The dance duet Manga! Is Les Productions Figlio's second project. Taking inspiration from the sense of continuous movement featured in the Japanese comic book tradition of the same name, Manga! premiered at the Dance Centre in Vancouver in November 2007 and then was brought to Toronto's Dance Works.

The Dancing On the Edge Festival of 2008 hosted the premiere of Slam for a Time Traveller, Bennathan's third project with Les Productions Figlio. He was given carte blanche to create the project, which was commisioned by the Dancing On the Edge Festival to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

In 2009, Vancouver saw the premiere of The Strange Adventure of Myself, Bennathan's fourth project. The solo work created for dancer Sylvain Senez is inspired by discussions about life, age, and art, but above all, it is about dance, and the dancer. Bennathan says “a phrase by Jean Genet describes very well the galaxy where I encouraged Sylvain Senez to immerse himself: You are an artist, alas, you can no longer refuse to confront the awful precipice of your eyes.”

This year, Bennathan is once again being presented by the Chutzpah! Festival and the Dancer Centre to premier his long awaited piece Conversations at the Scotiabank Dance Centre on February 10-12 @ 8pm. Tickets are available for $16-$25, plus taxes and service charges, at Tickets Tonight.

Taste & Sip Magazine lists for Chutzpah Festival 2011

administrator — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 18:07:32 +0000

Taste & Sip Magazine lists Chutzpah Festival 2011 performances including Conversations.

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