Venue: KUC Travno
Duration: 55 min.
Before the performances, audiences will be able to take part in a free introductory process and workshop starting one hour before the show: on 22 May from 19:00 and on 23 May from 17:00 at KUC Travno. For all workshop participants, admission to the performance is FREE.
CHOREIA grows from working with choir forms and searching for the space that has been lost for the choir and the community. CHOREIA faces the challenge of the historically grounded spatial division between stage and audience space. To overcome this, choir forms will be examined and new forms for space, sound, and body developed to bridge the physical distance. How can theatre as an institution become a living form of community? From a critical-historical perspective, community should not be thought of from the unity but rather from the difference of the singular individuals. To achieve this, CHOREIA uses the multi-voiced powers of unanimity and polyphony.
The Greek word choreia denotes the equitable singing, talking, and dancing of the people within the choir. With a large ensemble cast, a live DJ and sung elements, CHOREIA provides a voice to the dance. For the voice takes up an important role in CHOREIA when it negotiates the bodyless expansion of bodies in space and relations between groups and individuals.
Dealing with voice in its “body-like” qualities is a promising addition to CocoonDance’s research on the mental figure of the yet “unthought-of” body that has been ongoing since 2016. It contributes to the imagination of new and different embodiments and to relate them to yet other bodies.
Collective project CocoonDance was founded in 2000 by choreographer Rafaële Giovanola and dramaturge Rainald Endraß. The Baltimore-born Swiss citizen followed her studies with Marika Besobrasova in Monte Carlo first with a stint as a soloist in Turin before William Forsythe brought her to the Frankfurt Ballet for eight years, which was in turn followed by another fifteen years at Choreographisches Theater Freiburg and Bonn. Since 2004, the company has been playing the dance division at Bonn’s Theater im Ballsaal, a venue for producing artists, intersection, and sphere for different fields in contemporary dance. Among them are numerous projects of art agency and education such as the award-winning Junior Company Bonn. The driving force of the artistic development essentially lies in improvisation and ensemble work. Collective decision-making processes and an extraordinarily continuous teamwork constitute the works’ aesthetic density.
Swiss Premiere: 8.05.2025, Théâtre du Crochetan Monthey
German premiere: 15.05.2025 im tanzhaus nrw Düsseldorf im Rahmen von tanz nrw 25
French premiere: 18.05.2025 Théâtre Public de Montreuil im Rahmen der 56. Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis
In Coproduction with: Théâtre du Crochetan Monthey (CH), Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf (DE), Theater im Ballsaal Bonn (DE), Ringlokschuppen Ruhr Mülheim (DE), Pumpenhaus Münster (DE), Le Phare – Centre chorégraphique national du Havre et de Normandie (FR), Charleroi Danse centre chorégraphique de Wallonie – Bruxelles (BE), Pavillon Noir Aix-en-Provence (FR), Cité Bleue Genève (CH)
In Collaboration mit: Malévoz Quartier Culturel Monthey (CH), Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Bonn (DE)
Funded by: Kunststiftung NRW, Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ Coproduction Fund for Dance, which is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Bundesstadt Bonn, Théâtre-ProVS, Le Conseil de la Culture Etat du Valais, La Loterie Romande
Performed by and with (Friday, 22 May): Cristina Commisso, Álvaro Esteban, Jenna Hendry, Colas Lucot, Bojana Mitrovic, Léonce Noah, Rosie Reith, Louis Thuriot alternating with Margaux Dorsaz/ Nora Monsecour
Performed by and with (Saturday, 23 May): Cristina Commisso, Álvaro Esteban, Jenna Hendry, Colas Lucot, Bojana Mitrovic, Léonce Noah, Evandro Pedroni, Louis Thuriot alternating with Margaux Dorsaz/ Nora Monsecour
Choreography and direction: Rafaële Giovanola
Music: Franco Mento
Live electronics: Szymon Wojcek
Lighting and spatial design: Annegret Schalke, Jan Wiesbrock
Costume design: Fa-Hsuan Chen
Vocal training and coaching: Justin F. Kennedy, Karine Barman, Leah Marojevic
Dramaturgy: Rainald Endrass
Video documentation and photography: Michael Maurissens / CARRE BLANC PRODUCTIONS
Public relations: Fabiana Uhart, Rainald Endrass
Social media: Maud Richard
Production manager: Marcus Bomski
Administration: Maxime Rappaz
Management: Aurélie Martin
The performance is supported by NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ – International Guest Performance Fund for Dance, which is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Canton of Valais.
Web: cocoondance.net
Video / trailer:
https://vimeo.com/1087266620
The performance is supported by NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ – International Guest Performance Fund for Dance, which is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Canton of Valais.
On schedule
Choreia – a PolyBallet – Rafaële Giovanola / CocoonDance (DE/CH)
KUC Travno
Choreia – a PolyBallet – Rafaële Giovanola / CocoonDance (DE/CH)
KUC Travno
