NATIONAL DANCE COMPANY WALES: FOLK + TUNDRA

Criticism

"Strange and wonderful, like all the best myths and fables."
MATTHEW BOURNE

"A fairy tale of our time, vintage and modern."
DANCE TABS

"A modernist fable, on the one hand very funny, but extremely moving overall."
WALES ARTS REVIEW

I love observing people, their quirks, their peculiarities, and their behavior in different social settings. I wanted to create a work about relationships and social dynamics, about how people behave when they are in a group compared to when they are alone. What makes people form a group or establish a particular connection with someone? What excludes people from a group and how does this affect their behavior?

I was also inspired by the variety and expressions of the characters and communities depicted in 17th- and 18th-century oil paintings, and I encouraged the dancers to create their own characters inspired by these paintings.

I wanted to create a surreal yet familiar world, a world that is not recognizable, but one that we can all identify with in some way.

— Caroline Finn

Creative team

Choreography: Caroline Finn

Decor and design: Joseff Fletcher

Music: Barcarolle (Offenbach, Giraud), Mantovani and his Orchestra; Midnight Waltz, Adam Hurst; O Zorbas, Mikis Theodorakis; Homo Fugit velut umbra, Christina Pluhar and L’Arpeggiata; Black Gold, Armand Amar and Sarah Nemtanu; Pepa, Carles Santos; Threnody, Goldmund

Lighting design: Joseff Fletcher

Costume design: Gabriella Slade

CAROLINE FINN

Caroline Finn, born in England, attended the Tring School of Drama and the Juilliard School in New York, where she earned her bachelor's degree in dance. As a dancer, she has performed with the Munich Ballet Theater, Le Ballet Preljocaj, and the Carolyn Carlson Company (France). Since 2009, she has worked as a freelance dancer and choreographer, presenting her work around the world and creating choreographies for companies such as the Chilean National Ballet and the Tanz Luzerner Theater in Switzerland. She won Matthew Bourne's New Adventures Choreographer Award in 2014 and was later commissioned to create Bloom for the Phoenix Dance Theatre company.

In an arid landscape, ultra-modern creativity comes to life and tears pages from the history books of Russian folk dance, the USSR, and the revolution. Marcos Morau draws inspiration from art and cinema to create this daring style.

Criticism

"Every part of this production is ethereal and dizzying magic."
Wales Arts Review

"Cold, but strangely sexy."
The Stage

"A heavyweight who brings a truly unique body of work to NDCWales."
Culture Whisper

Creative team

Choreography: Marcos Morau

Choreography assistants: Marina Rodríguez, Lorena Nogal, and Lee Johnston

Visual art, set design, and design: Joseff Fletcher

Music: Svadebnie pesni (Duhovskaya), Olga Sergeeva; Cradle Song ( Russian Jewish lullaby), Kitka; 1559 W. Cunningham Cosmogr. Glasse 125, Akira Rebelais; Fail, Demdike Stare; Consumed, The Haxan Cloak; Shisen, Mariah

Lighting design: Joseff Fletcher

Costume design: Angharad Matthews

Marcos Morau (Valencia, 1982) studied choreography at the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona, the Conservatorio Superior de Danza in Valencia, and Movement Research in New York, obtaining the highest grade in his final degree project and the Institut del Teatre's extraordinary prize. His artistic knowledge is not limited to dance but extends to other disciplines such as photography and dramaturgy, and he is currently studying for a Master's Degree in Dramaturgy Theory.

In 2005, he created La Veronal, a collective formed by artists from the worlds of dance, film, literature, and photography. The aim of his artistic team lies directly in a constant search for new forms of expression and cultural references—mainly film, literature, and photography—that focus on a narrative language with the intention of creating global artistic spaces.

Marcos Morau has been awarded the 2013 National Dance Prize, as well as other prestigious awards such as the FAD Sebastià Gasch Prize, awarded by the FAD Foundation for Arts and Design. His creations have won him national and international awards.

Marcos Morau and his team have also exported their brand to other companies of international renown. La Veronal has also recently been present at some of the world's most important festivals and theaters, such as the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris, the Biennale di Venezia, Tanz Im August Berlin, the Oslo Opera, Julidans Amsterdam, Sadler's Wells in London, and the Internationale Tanzmesse in Düsseldorf, the most important showcase for dance in Europe.

FEARGHUS Ó CONCHÚIR, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

He has presented his choreographies in the UK, Europe, the US, and China, collaborating with renowned performers, directors, and composers. He recently worked as artistic director of The Casement Project, one of the Irish Arts Council's largest projects for the commemorative events of the Centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. He has worked as a dance teacher for companies such as Adventures in Motion Pictures, Arc Dance, and Preljocaj, as well as at the London Contemporary Dance School, Middlesex University, and the London Studio Centre. His work is strongly focused on diversity, and he has developed dance projects for different groups.