Provocative Female Dance Theatre Work by Cloé Fournier
October 18 & 19
PLUS WIN TIX! … We have 2x Double passes to giveaway to Mea Culpa on Friday 18 October, 7:45pm, at Riverside Theatres. To enter please email your name & number to win@dancelife.com.au with the subject title ‘Mea Culpa’. Winners drawn at random. Entries close Monday 7 October.
FORM Dance Projects presents Mea Culpa, a gutsy new dance theatre work from French-Australian multi-disciplinary artist Cloé Fournier at Riverside Theatres on October 18 and 19.
Featuring intriguing movement and spoken word, Mea Culpa depicts the dramas played out amongst seven female bodies in a futuristic society who bear the pressures from an ever-present invisible power, referred to as “IT”, which keeps them in submission.
Mea Culpa takes the viewer on an absorbing and sensuous journey, where women stomp their feet and hiss in quest of salvation, freedom and self-liberation.
Fournier has developed a movement aesthetic that blends and stretches contemporary physical theatre with French folk dance in order to explore and exploit the idea of the human machine – part-mechanical, part-human.
Choreographer Fournier said, “This work questions empowerment and our responsibility in shaping a future society where women reappropriate and recode the female body according to them. Mea Culpa is an attempt to consciously move away from the forces of technology, science, religion, patriarchy, matriarchy and pop culture, represented by “IT”, that hold women down.”
Fournier is known for her provocative solo works, as well as her powerful performance presence in works by cross-genre companies including Branch Nebula and Stalker Theatre. Fournier’s work examines human behaviours, the female form and its relationship to modern society, and the crucible of life and death.
The Performers in Mea Culpa are: Imogen Cranna, Isabella Coluccio, Emily Flannery, Cloé Fournier, Nicola Ford, Anna McCulla, Natalie Pelarek and Daniela Zambrano. Choreography by Cloé Fournier; Mentor/Dramaturg by Vicki Van Hout; Lighting Design by Frankie Clarke; and Music Composition by James Brown.
CLOÉ FOURNIER is a French-born Australian multi-disciplinary artist working in the realm of choreographic performance. Her choreographic approach to work is rooted in dance while spanning across theatre and visual arts. She works as a choreographer, movement director, dancer, physical performer, actor, teacher and curator.
Fournier’s curious mind and hunger for challenge have driven her to expend her dance training to aerial dance (harness), contact improvisation and more recently judo.
Under the umbrella brand Cloé [F] Projects, Fournier creates dance and performance works. She has performed in major international festivals in Australia and overseas for companies and independent choreographers/directors including Branch Nebula, Stalker Theatre, Legs On The Wall, Strings Attached, The Living Room Theatre, DirtyFeet, youMove Company, Untitled |Collective (AUS/USA), Anton, Martin del Amo, Younes Bachir (SP), Patrick Nolan, Vicki Van Hout and Dean Walsh. She has also collaborated with international visual artists such as Alexis Teplin (USA/UK), Nick Cave (USA), Nasim Nsar (AUS/IRAN). Fournier has also choreographed for opera, indie theatre productions, films and music videos.
As a performance maker, Fournier is fascinated by the impact of socialisation on our everyday living and the potential of using her art form as activism. She creates content driven works with psychological and emotional edge, always aiming at engaging with the broader audience. Her interest lies in exploring the female form and its relationship to modern society, as well as the crucible of life and death through an existentialist and/or surrealist perspective.
Fournier’s French heritage continuously inspires and influences her work. She acknowledges her cultures through language, tradition and a sustained research on traditional French folk dances. She explores the relevance and impact of these traditional dances in a contemporary choreographic and social context. She is currently a guest choreographer and teaching artist for Sydney Dance Company and Studio Q.
