MAISON OUVERTE #9
Our final Open House of the season.
Price: Completely free of charge thanks to the support of Malmö stad, Region Skåne and Kulturrådet
PROGRAMME
At Festsalen — Ungdomens Hus, Norra Skolgatan 10 B, Malmö
18.00 – 19.00 · Closing of Season Buffet
Mingle and enjoy our buffet in the foyer.
19.00 – 20.00 · Untitled (Figures) – performance by Lenio Kaklea
In 2023, Lenio Kaklea was commissioned to create a performance for La Peniche La Pop in Paris, based on the legendary song I'm Coming Out, written and composed by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers and performed by Diana Ross. Having never performed a coming out herself, she was rather perplexed by this invitation. Looking at the work of queer artists that are dear to her, such as Ulrike Ottinger, Jill Johnston, Jean Genet, or the neo-realist painter and scenographer Yannis Tsarouchis, she realised how this coming-out performance relates to a situation she had been led to explore in her work. When the New York dance critic Jill Johnston made her outrageous contribution to a panel on feminism at New York City Hall, she said: "All women are lesbians, even those who don't know it yet"- and Kaklea was convinced by that. For Untitled (Figures), the choreographer decided to embrace everything that is queer in her through a catalogue of danced figures (the cowgirl, leather culture, disco and the figure of the sailor) and pay homage to the capacity of queer cultures to teach us to love the female body.
Choreography and Performance: Lenio Kaklea
Sound Light and Technical Direction: Éric Yvelin
Costumes: Olivier Mullin
Dramaturgy: Lou Forster
Voice: Jill Johnston
Music: Hornpipe en do mineur by Henry Purcell, interpreted by Martin Fröst, Express Yourself by Madonna
Administration and Production: Olivier Poujol
Production: abd
Coproduction: Peniche La Pop for the festival (Re)Mix 2023, WEILS Centre d’art de Bruxelles, Festival + Genres/KLAP Maison de la Danse de Marseille
In the performance, Lenio Kaklea dances short extracts from Rodeo (1973) by Agnes de Mille.
20.15 – 21.00 · Artist Talk (with Lenio Kaklea & Frédéric Gies)
A conversation with artist Lenio Kaklea and Dance is Ancient’s Artistic Director, Frédéric Gies.
Lenio Kaklea
Lenio Kaklea is a dancer, choreographer, director and artist born in Athens, Greece and based in Paris.
She studied at the National Conservatory of Contemporary Dance in Athens (SSCD), where she trained in classical ballet and American modern techniques and repertories such as Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and Jose Limon. In 2005, she was awarded the Pratsika Foundation Prize and moved to France, where she studied at the CNDC in Angers, under the direction of Emmanuelle Huynh, and collaborated with prominent figures of the European dance scene such as Alexandra Bachzetsis, Boris Charmatz, Claudia Triozzi, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea. In 2011 she completed the SPEAP program, an experimentation in arts and politics’ master directed by Bruno Latour at Sciences Po in Paris.
Since 2009, Lenio Kaklea’s artistic practice uses a wide range of media including choreography, text and video and is informed by feminism and postcolonial critique. In her work, she explores the production of subjectivity through the organized transmission of movements and reveals the intimate spaces in which we construct our identity.
Her work has been presented by institutions and festivals throughout Europe such as the Centre Pompidou, Bourse de Commerce-Pinault Collection, Palazzo Grassi-Pinault Collection, ImPulsTanz Festival, CN D Pantin, Lafayette Anticipations, Onassis Foundation, Athens Epidaurus Festival, the National Greek Opera, Milan’s Triennale, documenta 14/Public programs, and Les presses du réel. Her performances have joined public and private collections such as the CNAP-National Centre of Fine Arts and KADIST Foundation.
Along with her personal choreographic work, she is engaged in collaborations with other artists. In 2013, Kaklea presented a collaboration with the American choreographer Lucinda Childs on the music by Ryoji Ikeda and in 2016, she was invited as curator at the National Scene of Brest and presented Iris, Alexandra, Mariela, Katerina et moi, a program led by female choreographers working in Athens. In 2022, she collaborated with the Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta and created a performance at Punta Della Dogana with clothes designed by Matthieu Blazy.
In 2019, Kaklea was awarded the Dance Prize of the Hermès Italia Foundation and the Triennial of Milan and created the autobiographical solo Ballad. In 2021, she choreographed Age of Crime, a piece for nine dancers,on the occasion of the bicentenary of the Greek Revolution at the Athens Epidaurus Festival, as well as Sonatas and Interludes, the emblematic work for prepared piano by John Cage, accompanied on stage by pianist Orlando Bass.
In 2024, she is nominated for the 25th Pernod Ricard Award, and creates the film An Alphabet for the Camera. The same year, she signs Chemical Joy, a stage work for 5 dancers from BODHI PROJECT Ensemble, a contemporary dance company based in Salzbourg and founded by ex member of the Merce Cunningham Company, Susan Quinn.
Kaklea teaches choreography at dance festivals and national schools across Europe, such as ImPulsTanz Festival, Camping at CND Pantin, the postgraduate programme Exerce in Montpellier, the University of Arts and Design of Karlsruhe, and the Schools of Fine Arts in Paris, Angers, Dijon and Bordeaux.
Lenio Kaklea