/carmen/karmen/s/

11-12 February 2011: 7.30 and 8pm.

This weekend: a three-part exploration of the story of Carmen across times, cultures and media.

Curated and convened by UCL Mellon Fellow Dr Mi Zhou, with the support of the European Institute and the UCL Mellon Programme, the project centres around an interdisciplinary conference that explores issues of intercultural and intermedial translation and adaptation through the prism of one of Europe's most iconic works of art: Carmen. By exploring one work and its many versions in text, opera, film, dance and theatre, the project will examine the historical, social and theoretical implications of each work and investigate the movement of ideas and tropes across times and cultures...

In addition to the conference, we are putting on two boundary-crossing performing arts shows in the Bloomsbury Theatre on 11 and 12 February 2011.

For further information and to book, please see below or check the project website.

See the project trailer here:

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Friday 11 February 2011: CARMEN STAGED

7.30pm
Bloomsbury Theatre
15 Gordon Street
London WC1H 0AH

Carmen Staged is the first of the two evening performances dedicated to Carmen.

Performance and video art: The orchestra of the University College Opera will perform Bizet's Carmen Suites conducted by Charles Peebles. The familiar strains of the music, though, will be countered by the collage of images that video artist Susanne Dietz will curate from various different versions of Carmen - some better known than others. Will you be able to recognise all the /carmen/karmen/s/?

Directors Panel: Directors Kitte Wagner of the Nørrebro Teater (Copenhagen), Jean Andrews (Nottingham University) and Jonathan Haswell (BBC) will be on stage to discuss their own approaches to the stagings of Carmen.

Book your ticket HERE.

Watch Susanne Dietz's trailer here:

Saturday 12 February 2011: CENTRIFUGE - Carmen Sampled

8pm
Bloomsbury Theatre
15 Gordon Street
London WC1H 0AH

Book your ticket HERE.

Centrifuge is a collaboration between the pioneering multimedia artist Robin Storey and choreographer/dancer Johanna Devi. Stripping back the layers of narrative accumulated around the figure of Carmen, they explore the elemental forces that constitute her. Not set in any particular time or place, CENTRIFUGE attempts to capture Carmen's enduring themes. The artists improvise around anchoring concepts, spinning out from the 'original' story, one that is already itself a constellation of influences, works, adaptations and translations. Using sampling as the key technique, the piece draws on its many predecessors and turns the anxiety of influence into inspiration.

During his prolific career spanning almost 30 years, Robin Storey's innovative and influential music has garnered worldwide recognition: first as a founding member of the groundbreaking experimental collective, Zoviet France, and latterly as the solo musician and multimedia artist Rapoon. Robin is also a painter, printmaker and graphic artist and has exhibited widely and internationally, including in the former USSR and USA. He has also created sound design loop libraries for Sony Media.

Johanna Devi is a dancer and choreographer who draws on the vocabularies of contemporary, ballet and Bharatanatyam dance. She trained in India, Germany and at the Alvin Ailey School of American Dance Theatre, New York City. She has performed both as a soloist and with various companies throughout Europe, UK, and Canada. She was the recipient of a Dezentrale Kulturarbeit Berlin Schöneberg-Tempelhof award and presented her solo work '5' in 2009. In the same year, she travelled to Iraq for the production 'Frauen Hammam'. In 2010, she performed as a soloist in Munich, Norway, Belgium and Cuba and toured with the Sadhana Dance Company in the UK.

For an in-rehearsal sneak preview, see Mi Zhou's blog; also check out the trailer below.

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