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Water Study, extrait de Sanctum [transmission 2022]
A choreographic extract remodelled by the group Mita Mita, collective coordination, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme 2020/2022 (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing). Transmission by Catherine Langlade
Presented on 18 June 2022, Maison de la danse in Lyon.
L’œuvre à la création
Water Study, extract from Sanctum
Firstly produced 20 February 1964 at the Henry Street Playhouse in New York
Choreography: Alwin Nikolais
Piece for ten performers: Murray Louis, Phyllis Lamhut, Bill Frank, Susan Buirge, Mimi Garrard, Raymond Broussard, Roger Rowell, Raymond Johnson, Olga Zampas, Ann Carlton
Music: Alwin Nikolais
Original duration: 74 minutes
The group
Mita Mita is an organisation founded in 2006 in Athis-Mons, and chiefly composed of students from the Portes de l’Essonne conservatory. It was originally formed for the creation of a dance festival. The group has performed at the Lino Ventura cultural centre, in collaboration with various choreographers, including Catherine Langlade and Flavia Tapias, and also as part of theatre and clowning workshops. This is the first time that Mita Mita has attempted to learn a piece of repertoire, in this case, an extract from Water Study, created in 1964 by the great American choreographer Alwin Nikolais.
The project
Tackling a piece by Alwin Nikolais, master of visual effect, also means exploring how costumes can sometimes radically transform the nature of movement. In Water Study, created in 1964, bags are placed on a bare stage on to which marine-life like shapes are projected. The dancers slip into these cloth envelopes which come to life with their movements live on stage. Under the guidance of multimedia choreographer Catherine Langlade, who studied under Nikolais at the Angers National centre for contemporary dance (CNDC) and at Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, the group wants to explore the multidisciplinary aspects of Nikolais’ rich and complex work, a work which approaches fine art. The technical aspects of Nikolais’ “total theatre” remain accessible, since he advocated for “dance for all and to each their dance”.
