BOUNCE BACK
CHRISTINA TOWLE / KIVUKO COMPAGNIE
THE SHOW
"Three performers, as good dancers as they are great athletes, meet up around a round ball: ready for the game to take place, relationships moving alongside the basketball.
Kindness, comradery, dodges, escape or resistance (...), here is a constant dialogue between force and careful attention" - Lea Poiré
In basketball, "no contact" is the rule of law. With gestures that are brisk, athletic, nourished by breathwork, the group tries to maintain the equilibrium and the rhythm inside, as if linked by a common heartbeat. Little by little, the space between dancers decreases, becomes porous and permeable. The ball slowly disappears, liberating the bodies from a grounded dance to an aerial one where the body itself becomes the ball.
On the court Sylvain Olliver is both referee and DJ, slowly and humorously becoming an active part of the game.
Created by Christina Towle for 3 contemporary dancers/basketball players and 1 DJ - Adaptable to all performance spaces indoors or outdoors - With the support of the DRAC Ile de France - For all audiences ages 6 and up - Sports in Culture Paris 2024
Full Presentation : click here
Company Website : https://www.kivukocompagnie.com/
Full video recording available here
Conservatoire Françis Poulenc - Seine-Saint-Denis Department (93) - Théâtre & Cinéma Georges Simenon in Rosny-sous-bois (93) - City of Rosny-sous-bois (93) - Seine-Saint-Denis Department (93) - Grant towards Creation from the Île-de-France Region - "Jury des Réalisations Particulières", Val de Marne Departmant Council (94) - DRAC Ile-de-France - Le Regard du Cygne, Paris
Project initiated as part of the "Women are here Mentoring/ Christine Batin" - Cultural Center in Houdremont/ La Courneuve (93) - La Maison des Jonglages (93) - Le Carreau du Temple (75)
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES:
Bois Colombes (92) - Château des tourelles : Saturday, September 30th at 4 PM
Villeneuve-la-Garenne (93) - Espace Pierre Brossolette : Saturday, October 21st at 4 PM
Achères (78) - Le Sax : Thursday, January 11th 2024 at 2:30 PM and Friday, January 12th 2024 at 2:30 PM and 8:30 PM
Marly le Roi (78) - Centre culturel Jean Vilar : Saturday, March 9th 2024 at 8:30 PM
Noisy le Sec (93) - Gymnase Visioni : Thursday, March 28th 2024 at 8 PM and Friday, March 29th 2024 at 4 PM
Cergy Pontoise (93) - Scène Conventionnée Points Communs : Friday, April 5th 2024 at 10 AM and 2:30 PM
Maisons-Laffitte (78) : Saturday, May 4th et Sunday, May 5th 2024
Épinay-sur-Seine (93) - Maison du Théâtre et de la Danse : Friday, May 31st 2024 at 2:30 PM and 8 PM
Brest (29) - Quartz, Scène nationale : from June 26th to 29th – times TBD
FRANCE INTER : An original show that mixes dance and basketball. The audience is taken by this basketball(et). We loved it!
TELERAMA : TT - We really like it. The choreographer, Christina Towle, invites the audience to witness the beauty and virtuosity of body movement, and to feel all the dramatic intensity of a sports game.
CHARLIE HEBDO : Clever, relevantly and irreproachably smart. An educational and formative piece.
S-QUIVE : It's a show reminiscent of the audacity and inventiveness of the Harlem Globe-trotters
CHRISTINA TOWLE / KIVUKO COMPAGNIE
Christina Towle is a Franco-American dancer and choreographer who trained with Merce Cunningham in New York and collaborated as a dancer with multiple American choreographers, notably Wally Cardona, Sean Curran, Stefanie Batten Bland or Neta Pulvermacher; before settling in France and collaborating with Jean-Claude Gallota as dancer and rehearsal coach.
With choreographer Laurence Pagès within the TRANSFORME formation led by Myriam Gourfink, she created a partitional writing mode for breathwork: "Trois Souffles" ("Three Breaths" - 2014), with the support of a grant for choreography from the National Center for Dance, the Royaumont Foundation, the Grenoble Choreographic Center and the Beaumarchais Foundation (SACD). In 2015 she founded the Kivuko Company. The company's first production - "Debout Se Relever" ("Upright Stand Up" in October 2016) - was a finalist in the Danse Elargie competition organized by the Théâtre de la Ville.
In parallel to her research around the athletic gesture, she started developing a creative streak for a young audience in 2016, with the trilogy "Lune", "Soleil" and "Entre Chien et Loup" ("Moon", "Sun" and "Between Dog and Wolf"), created with the support of the Courte Echelle Network (based in Seine Saint-Denis). With the Kivuko Company, she defends her desire to create for children and adults alike, creating projects that can be performed outside traditional spaces in addition to her creations for the stage. She has been associated to the Regard du Cygne in Paris since 2019, contributing to the programming decisions.
THE WORLD IS A STAGE
The show can be performed on a stage, a basketball court, an outside square or in a gymnasium.
Going near the public, dancing in places usually not used for such practices is at the heart of the comapny's project. The scenic space has been thought of as a imaginary basketball court, defined by simple and symbolic material: chalk, gaff tape, reflective bands, basketballs...
PEDAGOGIC APPROACH
The show can be performed on a stage, a basketball court, an outside square or in a gymnasium.
Going near the public, dancing in places usually not used for such practices is at the heart of the comapny's project. The scenic space has been thought of as a imaginary basketball court, defined by simple and symbolic material: chalk, gaff tape, reflective bands, basketballs...
+ Link to the pedagogical file : click here
PRACTICALLY SPEAKING
Contemporary dance, basketball and live music - Duration 45 min - Ages 6 and up
On tour : 4 artists,1 technician et 1 choreographer
Minimum stage dimensions: 10m x 12m
Recommanded number of audience members: 200 with bleachers, 100 without
Professional company based in Paris
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Choreography and concept: Christina Towle
Cast: Joel Beauvois, Guillaume Chan Ton, and Dalila Cortes
Basketball coach and choreography collaboration: Sylvain Lauret and Charley Melloul
Musical Creation and Live Music: Sylvain Olliver
Stage, lighting and costume design: Sylvain Dufour in collaboration with Christina Towle
