North American Premieres
April 21 & 22, 2023

CCN –  BALLET DE LORRAINE

DANCERS
Jonathan Archambault, Aline Aubert, Alexis Baudinet, Malou Bendrimia, Alexis Bourbeau, Charles Dalerci, Inès Depauw, Mila Endeweld, Angela Falk, Nathan Gracia, Léo Gras, Inès Hadj-Rabah, Tristan Ihne, 
Matéo Lagière, Laure Lescoffy, Valérie Ly-Cuong, Afonso Massano, Lorenzo Mattioli, Clarisse Mialet, Willem-Jan Sas, Céline Schoefs, Gabin Schoendorf, Léxane Turc, Luc Verbitzky

Olivier Bauer Lighting Manager
Thomas Caley Choreographer, Coordinator of Research
Valérie Ferrando Touring Manager
Miroslaw Gordon Stage Manager
Petter Jacobsson General Director
Thierry Louis Technical Director
Laura Mateos Sound Manager
Annabelle Propin Costumes

FOR FOUR WALLS

Choreography: Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley
Music: John Cage Four Walls (1st Mov.)
Pianist: Vanessa Wagner
Sets: Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley
Costumes: Petter Jacobsson, Thomas Caley,
Martine Augsbourger and Annabelle Saintier
Lighting: Eric Wurtz
Coproduction: Chaillot – Théâtre national de la Danse Paris
Run time: 40 minutes

For Four Walls is a commissioned piece for the centennial of Merce Cunningham with the original score performed live by pianist Vanessa Wagner. For Four Walls is a wanderlust through room, the individual, and the history we share. The “room” is a mirrored space that allows for a situation to be seen as having and not having its confining walls. Defining infinity, passing through it, or as a reflective space — a somewhere to remember that we belong to these interconnected spaces and their temporalities. We see it as a non-place, perpetually vulnerable and in motion. Where distances are relativized and human differences are always in flux. We see For Four Walls not as a re-enactment of the lost original, but as a situation that will allow for its own history and our history with Merce to be reflected in. The original dance play, Four Walls was a creation that incorporated text and choreography by Merce Cunningham with a score for solo piano by John Cage. The work premiered in 1944 and was performed only once and subsequently lost. In the late 1970s the pianist Richard Bunger did “rediscover” the score among Cage’s manuscripts. According to Cage his piano score, with a singular voice, acknowledged a link or prefigured the music of Philip Glass and Steve Reich — “It’s full of passages that get repeated, and it’s all white notes; it’s in C and it goes on and on.” The structure is of contrasting settings, loud and soft, high and low, etc., which has a psychological intensity quite unusual for Cage. He himself upon hearing the discovered score found it rather interesting — a genuine curiosity, and seemed surprised that he was its composer! Still within the beginnings of their collaborative work, the music and what little is known of the dance and staging precedes what we identify as a Cage/Cunningham work. What we are met with is their youth, full of introspective and conflicting emotions. This new reading of the original is interested in this notion of the pre “Cage/Cunningham,” while understanding it exists in the post of their legacy. — Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley

CELA NOUS CONCERNE TOUS (THIS CONCERNS ALL OF US)

Choreography: Miguel Gutierrez in collaboration with the artists of the CCN – Ballet de Lorraine
Music: co-created by Miguel Gutierrez and Olli Lautiola
Lighting: Yi Zhao
Costumes: Miguel Gutierrez and Martine Augsbourger
Assistant to the choreographer: Alex Rodabaugh
Dramaturgy: Stephanie Acosta
Rehearsal assistant: Valérie Ferrando
Additional research assistance: Tristan Ihne
Run time: 52 minutes

Thank you to Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley and to CCN/Ballet de Lorraine for their invitation to make this work back in 2017. And thank you to Jay Wegman and NYU Skirball for taking on the U.S. premiere. It’s thrilling to finally have this piece in the place that shapes so many of its formal and conceptual underpinnings. Thank you to the incredible dancers for their work in this piece, it is nothing without you, and to Valérie Ferrando for stewarding it so beautifully all of these years. Thank you to Alex, Olli, Yi, Martine, and Stephanie for your assistance in bringing this work to life. — Miguel Gutierrez

PROGRAM NOTE
Cela nous concerne tous (This concerns all of us) takes its title and inspiration from the political unrest that rocked French society in May ’68, a historical event that coincided with the founding year of Ballet de Lorraine. The piece explores internal and external tumult in ranges subtle to large as a frame for improvisational and choreographic exploration. What is the promise of protest? I think of another chant from the May ’68 era: “Beneath the pavement, the beach.” When I made this work, I was caught up in several questions: How can choreography be a container of difference? How does a community make space for wildness and care? What can liveness accomplish in a theater? The piece offers multiple takes on the questions.
Miguel Gutierrez

Prep School: Click here to get into the show with readings, interviews, videos & more!

ABOUT

MIGUEL GUTIERREZ

Miguel Gutierrez is a choreographer, music artist, writer, visual artist, educator, podcaster, community advocate, and Feldenkrais Method practitioner living on Lenape/Canarsie land in the area referred to as Brooklyn, NY and also on Tongva and Gabrielino land in the area referred to as Los Angeles, CA. His work creates irreverent and empathetic spaces outside traditional discourse. He has been presented internationally in venues such as REDCAT, Showbox LA, Los Angeles Performance Practice, Wexner Center for the Arts, Walker Art Center, Centre Pompidou, Festival Universitario de Colombia, Centre National du Danse, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York Live Arts, the Kitchen, American Realness, and the 2014 Whitney Biennial. He has received support from Dance NYC/Dance Advance Fund, MAP, New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, National Performance Network, and Creative Capital. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, United States Artists, New York Foundation for the Arts, and Foundation for Contemporary Arts. He has a Franky Award from the PRELUDE Festival, and he has received four New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Awards. He was a 2016 Doris Duke Artist.

Gutierrez was the 2020-2021 Caroline Hearst Choreographer in Residence at Princeton University, where he currently teaches as a Visiting Lecturer in the dance program. He is also a Guest Lecturer in the MFA Art program at Hunter College. He has served as visiting lecturer and guest artist at Bennington College, CalArts, Hollins University, Yale University, Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design, UCLA, UCSD, and Carnegie Mellon University. He has also taught in many dance programs around the world, such as Movement Research, CAMPING at the Centre National du Danse, ici Montpellier, ImPulsTanz, and Bates Dance Festival. He created and directed LANDING, a non-academic educational initiative.

His work is discussed and featured in Performance Now: Live Art for the Twenty-First Century by Roselee Goldberg (Thames & Hudson, 2018), The Choreographic by Jenn Joy (MIT Press, 2014), I want to understand what is happening to me by Amanda Hamp (TDR, 2016), and All the Possible Variations and Positions by Ryan Davis (Theater Magazine, 2015). He has also contributed essays to A Life in Dance (ed. Rebecca Stenn and Fran Kirmser, CreateSpace, 2017) and In Terms of Performance: A Keywords Anthology (ed. Shannon Jackson and Paula Marincola, The Pew Center & UC Berkeley, 2016). His book of performance texts, When You Rise Up (2009), is available from 53rd State Press, and his essay “Does Abstraction Belong to White People” is one of the most viewed writings at BOMB magazine online.

Recent projects include This Bridge Called My Ass, a dance that queers tropes of Latinidad, and SADONNA, a music project where he takes upbeat Madonna songs and turns them into sad anthems. He also recently published an essay for InDance Magazine called “The Grant You Wish You Could Write.” Current projects I as another, a commission from Princeton University that has its New York premiere in May at Baryshnikov Art Center, a revival of the Bessie Award winning Variations on Themes from Lost and Found: Scenes from a Life and Other Works by John Bernd, co-created by Ishmael Houston-Jones (choreographer) and Nick Hallett (composer), sueño, a new project of his original songs, and Are You For Sale? a podcast that looks at the ethical entanglements between art and money.

Gutierrez received his B.A. with honors from Brown University in 2021 after a 27-year hiatus from college. He will receive an MFA in Studio Art in the Low Residency program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago this summer. He is an associate professor of choreography at UCLA in the department of World Arts and Cultures Dance. www.miguelgutierrez.org

Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley: A Creative Team

The choreographers and dancers Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley, started collaborating in the nineteen nineties, choreographing works for Martha@Mother, the Joyce Soho in New York and the opera Staden for the Royal Opera House in Stockholm, a commission for the 1998 Cultural capital of Europe. For the Royal Swedish Opera, Ballet and Orchestra they created two immense Happenings, In nooks and crannies 2000 and 2001. The two different performances, occupied non-traditional performance spaces throughout the entire theatre.In 2005 they started their own company creating works entitled Nightlife, Untitled partner, Flux, No mans land – no lands man and The nearest nearness. In 2002 they received a “Goldmask” for the musical Chess with Björn Ulveus and Benny Andersson (ABBA).

As of 2011, Petter is choreographer and the Artistic Director and Thomas choreographer and the Coordinator of Research for the Centre Chorégraphique National – Ballet de Lorraine, Nancy. For the company they have created Untitled Partner #3, Performing Performing, Relâche, Armide, Discofoot, L’Envers, Record of ancient things, Happening Birthday, For Four Walls, Air-Condition and Mesdames et Messieurs.

Their programming for the CCN is organized around questions or themes and each year they invite a wide variety of artists both French and international to play and question within them.Their first programming season 2012, was entitled La saison de La. There they asked why is it Le Ballet but La dance? In response to this question of gender they presented solely female choreographers of diverse backgrounds. The season Tête à tête à têtes was a dialog focused on our modernity and its influences and connections with contemporary artists and spectators. Live! was a celebration of the ephemerality of the performing arts. Together with the continuing seasons, Folk + Danse = (R)évolution, Unknown Pleasures, 50 ans!, Fifty PlusUseless Beauty, Fiction addiction, Ready! (Made) and  tlm (Tout le monde) all have continued to challenge, celebrate and question. To insure a continued lively and non fixed use of the artform they have also worked with the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris and Centre Pompidou- Metz and Paris, and an original initiative LAB-BLA-BAL, a series of discussions and open house art experiments.

Born in Stockholm, Petter Jacobsson started his studies in dance at the age of three and was further educated at the Royal Swedish Ballet School, the School of American Ballet under Stanley Williams and he later graduated from the Vaganova Academy in St.Petersburg in 1982. As a principal dancer with the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet in London between 1984 to 1993, he toured internationally dancing all of the renowned classical roles as well as appearing as guest artist with numerous international companies. He later moved to New York to begin a freelance career, dancing with Twyla Tharp Dance Company, Merce Cunningham Repertory group, Irene Hultman Dance and later with Deborah Hay. In 1999, Petter was appointed artistic director of the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm.

Thomas Caley started his dance training at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, he continued his education earning a BFA from Purchase College in upstate New York in 1992. After graduating from university, a year was spent experimenting, performing in a multitude of independent projects in New York City. From 1993 until 2000 he was a principle dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company touring throughout the world and participating in the creation of twelve new works. In 2000 he moved to Stockholm to continue his collaboration with Petter Jacobsson and to continue working as a freelance dancer in Europe, in France Thomas has worked with Boris Charmatz on the 50 ans de danse flip book projects.

Centre Chorégraphique National – Ballet de Lorraine

The Centre Chorégraphique National – Ballet de Lorraine (which was awarded the “label” of Centre Chorégraphique National in 1999), is located at 3, rue Henri Bazin in Nancy. Its origins go all the way back to 1968, to the creation of the Ballet Théâtre Contemporain (BTC), established at the Maison de la Culture in Amiens. Located at the intersection of the historical center of the city of Nancy and the new Meurthe et Canal quartier, the Centre Chorégraphique National – Ballet de Lorraine is a vibrant venue for creation and research specific to contemporary and classical dance, with artistic standing at the national and international levels. As the first decentralized company to prioritize choreographic creation, the BTC, after a stopover at the Theatre of Angers, established itself permanently in Nancy. After the departure of Jean-Albert Cartier, its founding director, the Ballet, which had several different organizational names, was directed by Patrick Dupond, Pierre Lacotte, Françoise Adret and Didier Deschamps. And we must note the importance of the role played by André Larquié, President of the Centre Chorégraphique National – Ballet de Lorraine from 1998 to June of 2014, who also had a great deal to do with the installation of the BTC in Nancy as far back as 1978.

2011
Petter Jacobsson follows Didier Deschamps as Director of the CCN – Ballet de Lorraine, with a declared mission to make it a major cultural center, highlighting the exploration of new perspectives offered by the choreographic arts.

2000
Didier Deschamps is named the Director of the Centre chorégraphique national – Ballet de Lorraine, offering an artistic mission which explores the diversity of choreographic creation.

1999
Having been awarded the prestigious Centre chorégraphique national “label,” the Ballet National of Nancy and Lorraine becomes the Centre chorégraphique national – Ballet de Lorraine with a new orientation toward contemporary dance and choreographic creation. Françoise Adret becomes the Director and supervises the artistic transition for one year.

1991
Pierre Lacotte succeeds Patrick Dupond, choosing some of the classical and romantic masterpieces which contributed to his international reputation. The company is renamed the Ballet National of Nancy and Lorraine.

1988
Jean-Albert Cartier is named Director of the Palais Garnier and of the Festival of the City of Paris. Patrick Dupond, a danseur étoile at the Ballet of the Paris Opera, is named Artistic Director of the French Ballet of Nancy.

1987
The French Ballet Theatre of Nancy becomes the French Ballet of Nancy.

1978
Created as part of the choreographic decentralization process begun on September 1, 1978, the Ballet-Théâtre contemporain is relocated in Nancy and becomes the Ballet-Théâtre français, under the artistic direction of Jean-Albert Cartier. His role is to bring important choreographic works to Nancy and to the Lorraine region, and to present the company and its repertoire in France and abroad.

1972
Relocation of the Ballet-Théâtre contemporain in Angers.

1968
Creation of the Ballet-Théâtre contemporain at the Maison de la culture d’Amiens by Jean-Albert Cartier and Françoise Adret with the support of Ministry of Cultural affairs. The company use for the first time the label “Centre chorégraphique national”.

NYU SKIRBALL

NYU Skirball holds close James Baldwin’s dictum that “artists are here to disturb the peace.” Our mission is to present adventuresome, transdisciplinary work that inspires yet frustrates, confirms yet confounds, entertains yet upends. We proudly embrace renegade artists who surprise, productions that blur aesthetic boundaries, and thought-leaders who are courageous, outrageous, and mind-blowing. We are NYU’s largest classroom. We want to feed your head.

NYU SKIRBALL FUNDING

This project is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and Harkness Foundation for Dance. The performances of CCN – Ballet de Lorraine at NYU Skirball are part of the Albertine Dance Season 2023 and received support from Villa Albertine.

Logos: National Endowment for the Arts; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Villa Albertine; Face FoundationNYU Skirball’s programs are made possible in part with support from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and by Howard Gilman Foundation; FACE Contemporary Theater and FUSED (French U.S. Exchange in Dance), programs of FACE Foundation in partnership with Villa Albertine; General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA; Collins Building Services; Korean Cultural Center New York, Norwegian Consulate General in New York; Marta Heflin Foundation; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Mertz Gilmore Foundation; Aaron Copland Fund for Music; Amphion Foundation; as well as our valued donors through memberships, commissioning, and Stage Pass Fund support.