HOMME | ANIMAL

SUPPORTED BY WITH SUPPORT OF FRANCE INSTITUTE IN ST.PETERSBURG

?VENDETTA MATHEA & CO?, Aurillac, France
?HOMME | ANIMAL?

‘Homme | Animal’ is the French title of this production. How to translate it? When one says: Man is Animal, there are negative thoughts. These words mean that the Spirit of Man is an Animal, a part of Man that is so precious because this part of Man holds Our Humanity. ‘Homme | Animal’ expresses how we fill and act when we move through time and space, seeking to live with our body, mind and soul as one, with energy and instinct. The ballet was first created by experimenting random movements for about five months during the residence at La Manufacture in Aurillac France. Vendetta Mathea says that her strongest inspiration has been the young and powerful talented dancers that she has been working with. The company took its time and the work became a beautiful human adventure. For her, the group work is not the most important part of the ballet because the soloists have no restrictions on their personal creativity and the interpretation of their own dance. Each of those dancers is a born star. The researches on music took about the same time. It has been a slow process, doing and undoing phrases. The sound track evokes the five elements and takes its inspiration from the five continents. The lighting provides an evocative harmony with simplicity and no technical concessions. Putting up together movement, structure, music and lights created the philosophy that is being ‘Homme | Animal’

• Vendetta Mathea is a dancer, choreographer, teacher and visual artist.
  She trained in dance and music in Detroit at the University of Detroit with Lisa Novac, then in New York at the Juilliard School of Music with Alfredo Corvino and Kazuko Hirabayashi, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre and the Dance Theatre of Harlem with Mary Barnett. She also trained with a number of teachers such as Louis Falco, Finis Jhung, Jennifer Muller, Walter Raines and Clay Taliaferro. Vendetta Mathea begins a career as a performer with the Walter Nicks Dance Company for the American Dance Festival at Connecticut College. She works in New York with a number of choreographers, including Vanoye Aikens, Mary Barnett, Katherine Dunham, Garth Fagan, Clifford Fears, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Lukas Hoving, Shamus Murphy, Eleo Pomare, Paul Taylor, Morton Winston, Yuriko, etc. In 1979, Vendetta Mathea starts to perform her own solo pieces and creates her own company in 1981. «She has gone solo after having danced with the biggest companies. She can succeed in this adventure: she has so many ways of speaking, expressing and dancing. She has her own style. She can perform in ways that no one before her has achieved… She offers us her determination, joy and belief like an adventurous poet.» Amelie Grand ? 1982 Among her works, Vendetta Mathea researches in the 90’s the theme «Movement modernity and Musical tradition» with the contribution of fifty dancers, singers, musicians and visual artists from all over. This led to the creation of three pieces. «When a new, magnificent, powerful essence springs up from the interwoven roots of music and dance from here and elsewhere, ‘Colors de Vida’ crystallizes an unprecedented revelation.» Christine Lebas ? 1994.

  Founded in 1981, the company moved to Aurillac (France) in 1985, to what was then a National Theatre. Its repertoire included a number of pieces by Vendetta Mathea, including «Lobo», «Helios», «Art Gallery», «Not For Kids Only», «Colors de Vida», «Flowing Waters», «Distant Dreams», etc., which were first performed in France (Nice, Monaco, Avignon, Aurillac), the United States (New York, Detroit, Newark) and China (Qingdao). After the in-depth work done on the theme of «Gestural modernity and Musical tradition», the Company moved into a period of research entitled «Work in Progress» from 1996 to 2000, which involved residence and creation work, the production of small-scale performances and collaboration with artists from different cultures, from China, the United States, India and elsewhere. In 2001, Vendetta Mathea began a new, long-term project that led to the presentation of a number of phases in the extension of her personal reflection on human nature.

  In 2004, the Compagnie Vendetta Mathea performed the production «Women», to a score by musician Bill Kleinsmith. Having changed its name to Vendetta Mathea & Co in 2007, the company presented «Quand j’etais humain» at Aurillac Theatre (a public-funded theatre) in June 2008.

  «…Vendetta Mathea?s choreography in «Quand j?etais humain» expresses the interior nature of being. Every movement is justified; its sensitive content reaches out to the audience and remains compatible with virtuosity. Movement is spontaneous and technically superb, the references are there, the roots and sources create an authentic, profound, very pure style. We are moved by a dance that is formal, concentrated, enthusiastic and dazzling. A broad range of expression sways between rigour and freedom. The technical quality of the dancers and the choreographic design leave us constantly surprised and confronted with the unexpected» — Nicole Guerber-Walsh

Choreography, dance and voice ? Vendetta Mathea
Dancers Surya Berthomieux, Link Berthomieux, Béatrice Debrabant

Lights ? Lohan & Olivier Caldamaison

Music ? Tchad

DURATION ? 60 min.

AGE ? 16+

OFFICIAL PAGE

Homme | Animal (Tiechen) ?? la-manufacture