MASTERCLASS

Every year, Carolyn Carlson gives a week-long Masterclass at the Atelier de Paris/CDCN.
More info here.

Throughout her own training, Carolyn Carlson encountered brilliant dance pedagogues, from Anna Sokolov, choreographer and teacher marked by her collaboration with Martha Graham, to Joan Woodbury, a pupil of Mary Wigman and a pillar of choreographic teaching at the University of Utah, to Alwin Nikolais, whose work she performed with from 1965 to 1972. Nikolais passed on to Carolyn Carlson, more than a technique, a philosophy based on improvisation, choreographic composition and a conception of the dancing body based on four principles: time, space, form and perpetual movement. He also instilled in her the conviction that creation and learning are inseparable, and that we only create because we discover.

Since then, Carolyn Carlson has become an independent creator and teacher. She has passed on her approach to movement as a poetic gesture to several generations of dancers all over the world, particularly in France, Italy and Finland.

This passion for transmission led her to found and direct, from 1999 to 2002, the Academia Isola Danza, the first modern and contemporary dance academy at the Venice Biennale. At the same time, she founded the Atelier de Paris at La Cartoucherie, an international training center where the greatest masters come to pass on their knowledge, which has since become a CDCN (Centre de développement chorégraphique national).

Carriers of Carolyn Carlson's gesture, the dancers in her pieces are in turn repositories of this taste for passing on. In addition to performances, the company's tours are often accompanied by master classes led by the choreographer and/or her dancers.

Time, Space, Form and Perpetual Movement are the tools needed to create a graphic and poetic language. You must be in touch with the world, aware of its sufferings, study art, music, poetry, be open to others, and all these experiences will inspire your way of dancing. The richer your life, the richer your dance. An artist must have a single obsession in life: to touch people's souls, to reveal the poetry in them.

This quest for the invisible will help you soar. We dancers steal moments of grace from the universe. Carolyn Carlson

In detail:

- duration: between 2h and 4h (broken down into a class based on Alwin Nikolaïs' approach and an improvisation/composition session), 5h per day for a long Masterclass (over a week with a public performance on the ^6th day)

- speakers:
Carolyn Carlson assisted by Sara Orselli, or one of the company's dancers

- audience: up to 25 pre-professional or professional dancers for Carolyn Carlson. Up to 30 participants, all audiences possible, for the other performers.

- venue : dance studio (with carpet), or theater stage, minimum dimensions: 12m x 12m; dressing room with water, transport, per diem and accommodation if necessary.