Biennale Dance 2018
'Breath, strategy and subversion'
From 22 June 2018 to 01 July 2018

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From June 22nd to July 1st the Biennale Danza is back! Venice will host a long series of unmissable events, including 22 shows - 5 premieres, 1 European premieres and 5 Italian premieres, as well as screenings and meetings - for the 12th International Festival of Contemporary Dance in Venice. The heart of the event remains the Biennale Danza College performance, an integral part of the festival with three projects dedicated to Dancers, Choreographers and Professional Dancers.
Entitled ‘Breath, strategy and subversion' and directed by Marie Chouinard, the 2018 Dance Biennale n Venice will present different variations of contemporary choreography, focusing above all on the dynamics and developments of dancers and choreographers.
But what’s in the rich program of the Biennale Danza Venice 2018?
Let's start with Meg Stuart – Golden Lion prize winner - with the Italian premiere 'Built to Last', Deborah Hay, anticipating the American counterculture collected at the Judson Dance Theater, and the dancers of Cullbergbaletten, a splendid expression of modern ballet, staged with 'Figure a Sea' to the music of Laurie Anderson, another great experimenter.
At the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Dance there will also be some flamenco, in the contemporary version of Israel Galván - who in FLA.CO.MEN manages to fearlessly revolutionize the elements of this strongly codified dance, and the Italian premiere of 'Some Hope for the Bastards' by Frédérick Gravel who, with his group of actors, dancers and musicians, will bring on the stage of the 2018 Biennale Dance an extraordinary fusion of indie rock and contemporary dance. Another fusion of dance, music and theater will be 'Running Piece', the European premiere at the Venice dance festival, by Jacques Poulin-Denis.
There will be Xavier Le Roy, pioneer of anti-choreography that will bring to the Biennale Danza di Venezia 'Le Sacre du printemps' - an extraordinary solo that shifts the gestures between the three female performers. On the same line as Le Roy, Mette Ingvartsen - mother of a sort of expanded choreography where the body becomes an object among the objects - with 'To come (extended)', Italian premiere at the Festival di Contemporary Dance Festival of Venice.
Always part of this area where feelings become a key element of the show and perception prevails over technique, we will see Italian Francesca Foscarini and Irina Baldini, both at the Venice Dance Biennale 2018 with two works: 'Vocation to Asymmetry' and ' Anima' (Francesca Foscarini) and '7 ways to begin without knowing where to start' and 'Quite now', Irina Baldini’s premiere.
There will also be Faye Driscoll, for the first time at a contemporary dance festival in Italy - her choreography as a social experience will be presented in Venice with 'Thank you for Coming: Attendance', the first of a series of works done for and with public. Next, the energetic vitality of Marlene Monteiro Freitas, Leone d'Argento, who, with ‘Bacchae - Prelude to a Purge’, proposes an original re-interpretation of the tragic myth by Euripides.
The same curator Marie Chouinard will also stage at the Biennale Dance Venice in 2018 and will present the world premiere 'Solos et duos (temporary title)', a retrospective work with about thirty solos and duets.
Biennale College Dance 2018
Born with the aim of promoting young talents by offering them the opportunity to work with great masters, the Biennale College 2018 focuses on the transmission of the contemporary repertoire, on the analysis of choreography techniques, on interpretation and personal elaboration. The results of the two itineraries for dancers and choreographers will be included in the calendar of the 12th Contemporary Dance Festival: the dancers - of different nationalities, from 18 to 23 years of age - will be the protagonists of '24 Préludes de Chopin' by Marie Chouinard and a new creation of Daina Ashbee; the 3 choreographers - under 32 - will present a free creation each of about 20 minutes.
DANCE BIENNALE VENICE 2018 PROGRAM
June 22nd 2018
- 4.00pm | Giardino della Marceglia - Arsenale
Film - Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan, directed by Linda Saffire and Adam Schlesinger - 8.00pm | Teatro Alle Tese - Arsenale
Award ceremony for the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement to Meg Stuart - following
Meg Stuart - Built to Last *
June 23rd 2018
- 2.30pm | Giardino della Marceglia - Arsenale
Meeting with Meg Stuart - 4.00pm | Giardino della Marceglia - Arsenale
Film - Mister Chocolat, directed by Roschdy Zem - 5.00pm | Tese dei Soppalchi - Arsenale
Mette Ingvartsen - To Come (extended) - 8.00pm | Teatro Piccolo Arsenale
Compagnie Marie Chouinard - Solos et duos
June 24th 2018
- 3.00pm | Tese dei Soppalchi – Arsenale
Mette Ingvartsen – To Come (estende) - 4.00pm | Giardino della Marceglia – Arsenale
Meeting with Jacques Poulin-Denis - 5.00pm | Teatro piccolo Arsenale
Compagnie Marie Chouinard – Solos et duos - 5.00pm | Giardino della Marceglia – Arsenale
Film – Porteur, directed by Dimitri - 10.00pm | Teatro Alle Tese – Arsenale
Israel Galvàn – FLA.CO.MEN
June 25th 2018
- 19.00 | Teatro Alle Tese – Arsenale
Israel Galvàn – FLA.CO.MEN
June 26th 2018
- 2.00pm | Giardino della Marceglia – Arsenale
Film – La Féè, directed by Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy - 4.00pm | Giardino della Marceglia – Arsenale
Film – Pendular, directed by Julia Murat - 5.00pm | Teatro Alle Tese –Arsenale
Jacques Poulin-Denis / Grand Poney – Running Piece - 8.00pm | Tese dei Soppalchi – Arsenale
Irina Baldrini – Quite now – 7 ways to begin without knowing where to start, produced by Biennale College – Dance 2017
June 27th 2018
- 4.00pm | Giardino della Marceglia – Arsenale
Meeting with Marlene Monteiro Freitas - 5.30pm | Giardino della Marceglia – Arsenale
Film – Bobbi Jene, directed by Elvira Lind - 7.00pm | Sala d’Armi – Arsenale
Francesca Foscarini – Vocazione all’assimetria – Animale - 10.00pm | Teatro Piccolo Arsenale
Frédérick Gravel – Some hope for the bastards
June 28th 2018
- 2.30pm | Giardino della Marceglia – Arsenale
Film – Body_Remix / Les_Variations_Goldberg, directed by Marie Chouinard - 3.30pm | Giardino della Marceglia – Arsenale
Meeting with Marie Chouinard - 5.00pm | Sala d’Armi – Arsenale
Francesca Foscarini – Vocazione all’assimmetria – Animale - 8.00pm | Teatro Alle Tese – Arsenale
Marlene Monteiro Freitas – Bacchae – Prelude to a Purge - Followed by
Silver Lion prize ceremony, awarded to Marlene Monteiro Freitas
June 29th 2018
- 4.00pm | Giardino della Marceglia - Arsenale
Film - Playtime, directed by Jacques Tati - 6.00pm | Teatro Piccolo Arsenale
Biennale College Dance - 24 Préludes de Chopin by Marie Chouinard, New creation by Daina Ashbee - 6.00pm | Giardino della Marceglia - Arsenale
Film - An Evening Of Dance Construction, directed by Simone Forti - 9.30pm | Tese dei Soppalchi - Arsenale
Xavier Le Roy - Le Sacre du Printemps
June 30th 2018
- 4.00pm | Giardino della Marceglia - Arsenale
Meeting with Xavier Le Roy - 6.00pm | Giardino della Marceglia - Arsenale
Film - Louise Lecavalier - In Motion, directed by Raymond St-Jean - 7.00pm | Tese dei Soppalchi - Arsenale
Xavier Le Roy - Le Sacre du Printemps - 9.00pm | Teatro Alle Tese - Arsenale
Cullbergbaletten / Deborah Hay - Figure a Sea
July 1st 2018
- 2.30pm | Giardino della Marceglia - Arsenale
Meeting with Deborah Hay - 4.00pm | Giardino della Marceglia - Arsenale
Film: Pina, directed by Wim Wenders - 6.00pm | Teatro Piccolo Arsenale
Biennale College Danza - Three new creations - 9.30pm | Teatro Alle Tese - Arsenale
Faye Driscoll - Thank You for Coming: Attendan
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Information
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Period: From 22 June 2018 to 01 July 2018
Event location: Venice
Contacts: Biennale Dance 2018 - program and tickets on www.labiennale.org/en/dance/
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