Seule(s) en Scène is the new production of the multidisciplinary company Corps Multiple, directed by French choreographer Sandie Donzica, based in Austin, Texas. This work explores the theme of isolation of the body, and more precisely the female body. How isolation is perceived, translated in our body, its psychological impact but also how it differs from body to body, country to country, culture to culture. We are observing 3 different solos on stage, 3 women from different cultures and countries, responding to their isolation, connected in their respective experience.

The research idea is born from what we call our “common personal experience” during this health crisis. How we connect while being disconnected, how we disconnect while being connected. The research aims to understand how to live within one’s own isolation, to sit in it and be able to process it. Am I able to comprehend your personal isolation while going through mine? Do our similar but particular situations bring us together or on the contrary impede us from understanding and feeling for one another? With only female artists involved, how is isolation perceived, experienced by a woman? What is our relationship to solitude, what are the consequences of forced isolation on us?

The performances will be intimate and eclectic, spontaneous but also nostalgic. You will feel like travelling in time and space, but also intimate with the performers’ personal experience, emotions, and deep reflection.

One weekend only
Intimate performances with only 25 tickets sold per night – Masks required.
A unique and beautiful artistic experience in Austin with international artists.

Concept: Corps Multiple, in collaboration with performers

Choreography: Sandie Donzica, in collaboration with Mary Katakura for video

Music and sound design: Heather Barfield. With additional music by Key Hole.

Video: Mary Katakura

Technical director & Stage Manager: Katie Hamilton

This production has been generously funded by The Creative Fund’s Q Rental Subsidy Grant program. The Creative Fund is a funding mechanism that provides much-needed support to local performing artists enabling them to further their creative endeavors.

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:

MARY KATAKURA (Projection, dance)

Mary was born in Tokyo, Japan, and began her dance training with ballet at Imamura ballet studio in Tokyo. in 2012 she started her career as a professional dancer at the Budapest Dance Theatre, Hungary. She has since performed internationally, including the FINA2017’s opening ceremony. She started her freelance career in Paris in 2018, where she is involved in a variety of projects, including venues such as museums and galleries. She combines working solo with collaborative work with musicians and artists.

https://instagram.com/mary_danseusejp – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqOd50DxgLw5TqvwPgMbuQw

HEATHER BARFIELD (Music, text, movement)

Heather Barfield is Adjunct Professor of Drama at Austin Community College. She holds a PhD in performance studies from UT Austin. She currently serves as board member with Electronic Frontier Foundation-Austin and Alliance Française d’Austin. She experiments with sound, music and emotion in the electronic, performance art band, Key Hole. She loves quiet walks with her dog and family in secret woods near her home in Austin.

www.heatherbarfield.com

SANDIE DONZICA (Dance, choreography)

Sandie Donzica is the artistic director and co-founder of Corps Multiple, and a French dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and yoga instructor based in Austin, TX. Her attraction to devised work and interdisciplinarity lead her to work between the theatre, the dance world and the contemporary music field.She graduated from the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine d’Angers with a Dance BFA (DNSPD) and Dance Administration Bachelor degree. She’s a certified dance teacher since the age of 18 and obtained her Choreographic Studies Diploma at the Conservatory of Nice, France. She performed works from Merce Cunningham, José Limon, Alwin Nikolais, Anne Theresa de Keersmaeker, Trisha Brown, Malou Airaudo, Jean-Claude Gallotta, Cedric Andrieux, Andrea Beckham, Charles Anderson and Christian Von Howard, among others. She was an apprentice at Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and Compagnie Julien Lestel.As a freelance artist, she has danced for Jennifer Sherburn, Toni Bravo, Cheryl Chaddick, Kim Robards, Kathy Dunn Hamrick, Shen Jun Movement Effect; worked and choreographed for The VORTEX Theatre and collaborated with musicians and organisations such as Electronic Planet Ensemble, Fast Forward Austin and Church of the Friendly Ghost. She has performed at Le Grand Théâtre d’Angers, Le Centre National de Danse Contemporaine d’Angers, Le Pavillon Noir (Aix-en-Provence), Dock11 (Berlin), Smock Alley Theatre (Dublin), The Blanton Museum (Austin), The Museum of Human Achievement, Ballet Austin and The Long Center (Austin).Her work centers on form-risking performances, fluid motion and theatrical movement, reaching in the depth of human nature and to the source of our emotions. She focuses with her company on immersive multidisciplinary improvisation. Collaboration, adaptation and vulnerability are at the center of her creative process; authenticity, articulation and refinement of qualities define her as a performer.She is currently directing and choreographing for Corps Multiple. She is also the Development and Marketing Associate at The VORTEX and teaches dance and yoga classes.

www.corpsmultiple.com – www.facebook.com/sandiedonzicadancer

ABOUT CORPS MULTIPLE:

Corps Multiple is a multidisciplinary company directed by French artist Sandie Donzica (dancer and choreographer). She founded the company in Austin, TX in April 2018 with singer and composer, François Minaux. We are merging contemporary dance, live music and theatrical performance.Our researched experimental scenic improvisations are based on intimate experiences from people around us, as well as human psychology, behavior and deepest sensations. We strive to develop artistic evenings crossing genres and disciplines to produce eclectic, spontaneous and intriguing contemporary works in order to touch the senses, emotions and thoughts of the audience.

Our first production, (UN)ROOTED, premiered at The VORTEX in December 2018.

OUR MISSION:

PERFORM

Share a spontaneous and genuine performance by offering immersiveness, eclectic artists and using deeply developed improvisation tools on stage.

CONNECT

Provide a hub for artists to collaborate and experiment freely; Educate the community on the art of improvisation, multidisciplinary collaboration, creation and performance.

EDUCATE

Offer dance masterclasses, professional training and improvisation workshops focused on listening, adapting and interacting with the participant’s senses and environment, exploring ways of expression and creativity through movement, sound and collaboration.

OUR VISION:

Using emotion as the core language of our multidisciplinary work, we want to break the wall that keeps all art disciplines away from sharing a spontaneous conversation. Combining synesthesia and free improvisation as performance practices, we are striving for all art media to create simultaneously and collaboratively. Our research with sound and physicality leads us to experience creation and performance from our senses first, using our sensations to provide authentic artistic experiences and connect deeply with the audience.

www.corpsmultiple.com