The Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts (GIPCA), in partnership with Pro Helvetia Cape Town, will host Swiss dance company Cie 7273 – Nicolas Cantillon and Laurence Yadi.

The company will be performing Romances-S on Tuesday 12 April and Wednesday 13 April, at 20:00 in the Little Theatre. Romance-S (2009) is a contemporary love story told through an elegantly simple pas de deux, with numerous references to the history of dance. It is a study of bodies and the space between them, a space common to both love and dance.

Cie7273 will present a Family Dance workshop on Saturday 9 April at 14h00 in Hiddingh Hall. This is an encounter that brings together dance professionals, parents, and their children between the ages of 4 and 12. It is open to other family combinations such as uncles/aunts and nephews/nieces as well. The objective is to establish new links between children and their parents through touch and embrace in an artistic setting and with the advice of experts in the field of movement, resulting not just in a memorable experience, but also an awareness of the body and an intimate journey involving parent and child. This workshop will be followed by a short presentation by Nicola Visser, GIPCA 2010 Creative Arts Fellow, on Homebody, a two-year movement improvisation project with mothers and daughters.

Dance Like Nature, on Monday 11 April at 18:00 in Hiddingh Hall, is an introduction to Yadi’s and Cantillon’s very personal dance style that integrates elements of classical ballet, European contemporary dance and Oriental influences. The choreographers adapt their approach to the skills levels of each group they work with, starting with warm-up exercises in the beginning but gradually encouraging the participants to perform dance patterns designed by the company. 

Jay Pather, director of GIPCA, commented: “Contemporary dance has developed rapidly in a myriad of directions but our understanding of dance is determined by what we see on our stages. To this end this internationally acclaimed company promises fresh and invigorating perspectives. This offer of such expertise in the form of performances as well as workshops is part of GIPCA’s aim to expose our audiences to global trends and to ignite debates about new dance languages and innovative practice.”

Cie 7273 is made up of the duo Nicolas Cantillon, born in 1972, and Laurence Yadi, born in 1973. Yadi, who trained with the Alvin Ailey Centre in New York, and Cantillon, who studied dance at the Marius Petipa Conservatory in Paris, formed 7273 in 2003. They arrived at dance from different paths, with Yadi coming from a sports background, and Cantillon from a career in the arts as a singer and guitarist. They began their dance careers in a number of productions, either as dancers or choreographic assistants. Their paths crossed occasionally as a result of working for the J. Art Ballet in Paris, as well as at the Company Alias in Geneva, where they met and collaborated with Gisela Rocha and Rui Horta. Their works as 7273 include La vision du lapin (2003), Simple proposition, (2004), En concert and Laï laï laï laï (2007, 2008). In 2006, their piece Climax, won an award from the Liechti Foundation for the Arts. From 2009 to 2011 the company has received support from the Ville de Genève, the Rèpublique et Canton de Genève and Pro Helvetia.

All performances and workshops are free, but booking is essential. Book via 021 480 7156 or fin-gipca@uct.ac.za.

Start: 9 Apr ’11

End: 13 Apr ’11

Cost: Free

Category: 

Organizer: GIPCA

Email: fin-gipca@uct.ac.za

Venue: Hiddingh Campus 

Phone: +27 21 480 7156 

Address: Google Map 31-37 Orange Street, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa