research - credit photo: Danilo Moroni
The Ephemeral life of an octopus- 2019
"There is the ancient, religious idea that man is the unhappy combination of beast and god: if only we were divine, we would be liberated, immortal spirit; if only we were beast, we could be content in our instinctive ignorance." The Human and the octopus by Thomas Stern. Link to essay > here <
The Ephemeral Life of an Octopus is absurd and grotesque, playful and liberating. It questions the strangeness of having a body: healthy and vigorous, suffering and damaged, punctured and probed, wild and animalistic.
Based on the choreographer's personal experience of ovarian cancer, the piece is inspired by studies of the evolution of cancer cells and the lived experience of illness. At once scientific, philosophical and visceral, the piece looks at the dysfunction, chaos and vibrant life force of the body from within and without.
More broadly, the piece explores the curse it might be to have a consciousness. It is an attempt to look at instinctive and primal states, dysfunctional behaviors and chaotic outcomes.
P R E S S - > - >
A poetic dash.
That dance, which explains the unspeakable, (..), the hope, the passion of a fighting body, which makes tears run down, because that fucking disease seems human in its poetic dash, like Boris Vian's Nenuphar, and gives a certain pride to have hosted it in its body » Erin Penn, Land (LU)
An emotional roller-coaster. Christine Mandy, Journal (LU)
At once original in its statement, remarkable in its choreographic language and extremely well performed. Marie-Laure Rolland, La Glaneuse (LU)
Tirabasso splits individual movement apart to reveal a shaky, vulnerable core of humanity. Ka Bradley, Springback Magazine (UK)
There is an undercurrent of wit in Tirabasso’s choreography, in her choice of music (including an original composition by Martin Durov), in the colour and light of the production and in the relentless play of healthy bodies in a compulsive setting of dis-ease that negotiates a path between spirit and flesh, between intellect and play that taken as a whole borders on an unequivocal celebration of life.
Nicholas Minns, Writing about Dance (UK)
On the floor, cables seem to draw the map of a world with intertwined frontiers. Between the animal world and the human one, between science and consciousness, between body and soul. Ludovic Thomas, Journal Zibeline (FR)
Choreographer / Director: Léa Tirabasso
Project Manager: Mathis Junet
Associate Producer: Hattie Gregory
Dancers: Rosie Terry Toogood, Catarina Barbosa, Joachim Maudet, Alistair Goldsmith
Composer: Martin Durov
Lighting Designer: Nicolas Tremblay
Scientific Advisor: Adeola Olaitan
Scientific Advisor: François Eisinger
Philosophy Advisor: Thomas Stern
Animal Transformation Coach: Gabrielle Moleta
Co-produced by
Kinneskbond, Mamer (LU)
KLAP, Maison pour la danse, Marseille (FR)
Commissioned by
The Place London (UK)
DanceXchange Birmingham (UK)
NSCD Leeds (UK)
Supported by
GFTA, Arts Council England (UK)
Choreodrome, Touch Wood via The Place London (UK)
TROIS C-L, Centre de Création Luxembourgeois (LU)
Dance-City, Newcastle (UK)
South East Dance (UK)
Special thanks to Charity Eve Appeal (UK)
Fondation Indépendance (LU)
Special thanks to the Wellcome Collection, Cancer Research UK and Eve Appeal.
Touring & international development
La Magnanerie
MAG.I.C MAGnanerie International Cooperation
Victor Leclère
0033 (0)1 43 36 37 12
victor@magnanerie-spectacle.com
www.magnanerie-spectacle.com
NEXT PERFORMANCES
PODIUM, La Rampe Échirolles (FR) 29-30/11/19 + info
Kinneksbond Hors les Murs @Banannefabrik (LU) 3-4/01/2020
Past performances
Friday 8th February 2019, Kinneksbond, Mamer (LU) + info +
Thursday 28th February 2019, DanceXchange, Birmingham (UK) + info +
Saturday 2nd March 2019, The Place, London (UK) + info +
Saturday 9th March 2019, Riley Theatre, Leeds (UK) + info +
Saturday 16th March 2019, KLAP, Maison pour la danse, Marseille (FR) + info +
Past showcases
March 2018, 3rd, Banannefabrik Luxembourg (LU)
September 2017, Touch Wood, The Place, London (UK)
Past Contextual events
Thursday 21st September 2017, 7pm - The Wellcome Collection, London
Conversation: Gynaeco-oncology, Philosophy and Dance. Can Science and Philosophy inform the making of a dance piece?
With Adeola Olaitan (Consultant Gynaeco-Oncologist, clinical lead of the Gynaecological Cancer Centre at UCLC), Thomas Stern (Senior Lecturer at UCL) and Léa Tirabasso (Choreographer).
Where? The Reading Room - Wellcome Collection
Thursday 28th September 2017, 7pm - The Wellcome Collection, London
Lecture: Disgust, Disease, Body - Illness
Led by Thomas Stern (Senior Lecturer UCL) followed by a facilitated discussion.
THURS 27/09/18 - 7pm - The Wellcome Collection, Reading Room
The 5 Types of Gyaecologocial Cancers
Discussion led by Adeola Olaitan
Where? The Reading Room - Wellcome Collection
THURS 06/12/18 - 7pm - The Wellcome Collection, Reading Room
The Human and the Octopus
Discussion led by Thomas Stern (based on his essay)
Where? The Reading Room - Wellcome Collection
FRI 01/03/18 - 4pm - The Wellcome Collection, Reading Room
The representation of Cancer in the Arts
Discussion led by Brian Lobel
Where? The Reading Room - Wellcome Collection
The Ephemeral life of an octopus- 2019
"There is the ancient, religious idea that man is the unhappy combination of beast and god: if only we were divine, we would be liberated, immortal spirit; if only we were beast, we could be content in our instinctive ignorance." The Human and the octopus by Thomas Stern. Link to essay > here <
The Ephemeral Life of an Octopus is absurd and grotesque, playful and liberating. It questions the strangeness of having a body: healthy and vigorous, suffering and damaged, punctured and probed, wild and animalistic.
Based on the choreographer's personal experience of ovarian cancer, the piece is inspired by studies of the evolution of cancer cells and the lived experience of illness. At once scientific, philosophical and visceral, the piece looks at the dysfunction, chaos and vibrant life force of the body from within and without.
More broadly, the piece explores the curse it might be to have a consciousness. It is an attempt to look at instinctive and primal states, dysfunctional behaviors and chaotic outcomes.
P R E S S - > - >
A poetic dash.
That dance, which explains the unspeakable, (..), the hope, the passion of a fighting body, which makes tears run down, because that fucking disease seems human in its poetic dash, like Boris Vian's Nenuphar, and gives a certain pride to have hosted it in its body » Erin Penn, Land (LU)
An emotional roller-coaster. Christine Mandy, Journal (LU)
At once original in its statement, remarkable in its choreographic language and extremely well performed. Marie-Laure Rolland, La Glaneuse (LU)
Tirabasso splits individual movement apart to reveal a shaky, vulnerable core of humanity. Ka Bradley, Springback Magazine (UK)
There is an undercurrent of wit in Tirabasso’s choreography, in her choice of music (including an original composition by Martin Durov), in the colour and light of the production and in the relentless play of healthy bodies in a compulsive setting of dis-ease that negotiates a path between spirit and flesh, between intellect and play that taken as a whole borders on an unequivocal celebration of life.
Nicholas Minns, Writing about Dance (UK)
On the floor, cables seem to draw the map of a world with intertwined frontiers. Between the animal world and the human one, between science and consciousness, between body and soul. Ludovic Thomas, Journal Zibeline (FR)
Choreographer / Director: Léa Tirabasso
Project Manager: Mathis Junet
Associate Producer: Hattie Gregory
Dancers: Rosie Terry Toogood, Catarina Barbosa, Joachim Maudet, Alistair Goldsmith
Composer: Martin Durov
Lighting Designer: Nicolas Tremblay
Scientific Advisor: Adeola Olaitan
Scientific Advisor: François Eisinger
Philosophy Advisor: Thomas Stern
Animal Transformation Coach: Gabrielle Moleta
Co-produced by
Kinneskbond, Mamer (LU)
KLAP, Maison pour la danse, Marseille (FR)
Commissioned by
The Place London (UK)
DanceXchange Birmingham (UK)
NSCD Leeds (UK)
Supported by
GFTA, Arts Council England (UK)
Choreodrome, Touch Wood via The Place London (UK)
TROIS C-L, Centre de Création Luxembourgeois (LU)
Dance-City, Newcastle (UK)
South East Dance (UK)
Special thanks to Charity Eve Appeal (UK)
Fondation Indépendance (LU)
Special thanks to the Wellcome Collection, Cancer Research UK and Eve Appeal.
Touring & international development
La Magnanerie
MAG.I.C MAGnanerie International Cooperation
Victor Leclère
0033 (0)1 43 36 37 12
victor@magnanerie-spectacle.com
www.magnanerie-spectacle.com
NEXT PERFORMANCES
PODIUM, La Rampe Échirolles (FR) 29-30/11/19 + info
Kinneksbond Hors les Murs @Banannefabrik (LU) 3-4/01/2020
Past performances
Friday 8th February 2019, Kinneksbond, Mamer (LU) + info +
Thursday 28th February 2019, DanceXchange, Birmingham (UK) + info +
Saturday 2nd March 2019, The Place, London (UK) + info +
Saturday 9th March 2019, Riley Theatre, Leeds (UK) + info +
Saturday 16th March 2019, KLAP, Maison pour la danse, Marseille (FR) + info +
Past showcases
March 2018, 3rd, Banannefabrik Luxembourg (LU)
September 2017, Touch Wood, The Place, London (UK)
Past Contextual events
Thursday 21st September 2017, 7pm - The Wellcome Collection, London
Conversation: Gynaeco-oncology, Philosophy and Dance. Can Science and Philosophy inform the making of a dance piece?
With Adeola Olaitan (Consultant Gynaeco-Oncologist, clinical lead of the Gynaecological Cancer Centre at UCLC), Thomas Stern (Senior Lecturer at UCL) and Léa Tirabasso (Choreographer).
Where? The Reading Room - Wellcome Collection
Thursday 28th September 2017, 7pm - The Wellcome Collection, London
Lecture: Disgust, Disease, Body - Illness
Led by Thomas Stern (Senior Lecturer UCL) followed by a facilitated discussion.
THURS 27/09/18 - 7pm - The Wellcome Collection, Reading Room
The 5 Types of Gyaecologocial Cancers
Discussion led by Adeola Olaitan
Where? The Reading Room - Wellcome Collection
THURS 06/12/18 - 7pm - The Wellcome Collection, Reading Room
The Human and the Octopus
Discussion led by Thomas Stern (based on his essay)
Where? The Reading Room - Wellcome Collection
FRI 01/03/18 - 4pm - The Wellcome Collection, Reading Room
The representation of Cancer in the Arts
Discussion led by Brian Lobel
Where? The Reading Room - Wellcome Collection
Performance Pictures: Bohumil Kostohryz
R&D Pictures: Danilo Moroni (Sept 2017)
R&D Pictures: Danilo Moroni (Sept 2017)
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#teaser2
By Bohumil Kostohryz |
#teaser1
In collaboration with, and by Danilo Moroni |
About The Ephemeral life of an octopus
By Rosie Terry Toogood
Video by Bohumil Kostohryz
By Rosie Terry Toogood
Video by Bohumil Kostohryz