Is This A Dance?
by LAVAELO
About Is This A Dance?
When you skip down the street or turn on the spot for no reason; when you stamp your feet in rage or throw your arms in the air in joy... Have you ever wondered Is This A Dance?
Two dancers explore the question by letting their bodies take the lead, through rhythmic games and moments of absorption in the experience of dancing. The work weaves short dialogues and endless questions about dance between a computer and a child, with a vibrant, epic soundscape that journeys from flamenco and clubbing to deep blue seascapes and wilderness. This is a show for anyone who has ever found joy in mindlessly moving to music like nobody’s watching.
Is This A Dance? is commissioned by The Place. Supported by Arts Council England, The Egg and HS2 Camden.
ABOUT LAVAELO
LAVAELO is a collaboration between dance artists Lola Maury and Eva Recacha. Together they create work for young audiences and their families, where young people are encouraged to ask questions about dance. LAVAELO’s work explores the essence of what dance is, with focus on movement features: speed, duration, rhythm, actions; looking at how these ingredients weave with one another and give rise to a multitude of exciting possibilities not driven by narrative. Their work tests their instinct that children will be particularly perceptive to this as an extension of how they learn through play. What is dance made out of? How do the ingredients fit into place and what happens when they do?
ABOUT LOLA MAURY
Lola is a French dance artist, researcher and lecturer, currently doctoral student at the Centre for Dance Research in Coventry University. Her research focuses on the attentional preparation of the audience, in the lead up to a performance. She experiments with preambles to encourage the spectator to connect to their perceptions and to practice inner-awareness in the days or moments that precede a show.
Over the last ten years Lola has developed and produced her own choreographic work, which includes Two To Tune (2014) commissioned by The Place, selected for French national platform ‘La Grande scene des PSO 2016’; Figurines (2016) toured to Triratna Buddhist Centres as part of an audience development activity, engaging people interested in meditation; Brouhaha (2019) commissioned by Theatre in the Mill (Bradford), CND (Lyon), Le Pacifique CDCN (Grenoble) and CCNR (Rillieux-La-Pape); and Is This A Dance? (2022), a piece for young audiences, co-created with Eva Recacha and co-produced by The Place. Between 2011 and 2015, she co-led Limbic Production with Iris Musel, a company delving into art/neuroscience collaborations.
Her professional development includes: Artist in residence at the National Centre for Dance in Lyon (2020/21); Surf the Wave, Artist as Entrepreneur (2018); The Place’s Hot House scheme (2014); Deustche Bank Award for Contemporary Dance (2008).
Lola curates since 2018, the Cellules D'essai, interdisciplinary days of reflection and sharing of practices in Lyon. She was part of Le Croiseur’s steering committee, a venue dedicated to supporting emerging dance artists, from 2018 to 2021.
ABOUT EVA RECACHA
Eva Recacha is an independent female choreographer who lives and works in London. Her choreographic practice explores ways of relating movement and text, creating a blend of poetic, humorous and nonsensical juxtapositions through the interplay of both mediums.
Eva Recacha’s work has explored themes of belonging, traditions and believe (Easy Rider), female gender and value (Aftermath), female visibility and ageing (Because I Can), and utopia (Afterlife and The Picnic).
She has been commissioned work for the stage by Sadler’s Wells, The Place, Festival Santa Susana, EDge, and LCDS (London Contemporary Dance School), as well as site-specific work by DanceXchange, Bloomberg SPACE, Opera Estate Festival Veneto, and Fundació LaCaixa.
Eva Recacha was twice a Place Prize Finalist for Begin to Begin: A Piece about Dead Ends, and for The Wishing Well, winning the public prize on three occasions. In 2023 she was selected as a priority company by the European dance network Aerowaves.
Her work has appeared in Time Out’s Best of the Year and has been presented in UK and at festivals in Europe.
Eva Recacha’s latest works are:
Because I Can, a solo on British iconic performer Lauren Potter, dealing with notions of female invisibility and ageing.
Is This A Dance? a work for young audiences made in collaboration with Lola Maury.
The Picnic, a large group piece exploring themes of utopia, cooperation and misogyny, that will premiere at Sadler’s Wells in London in November 2024.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Co – Choreographers and Performers: Eva Recacha and Lola Maury
Co – Writers: Alberto Ruiz Soler, Eva Recacha, Lola Maury, Michael Crowe
Sound Artist: Alberto Ruiz Soler
Costume and Set Designer: Kate Lane
Lighting Designer: Ben Moon
Education Advisor and Curator: Michael Crowe
Children voices (English version): Unai Ospina Recacha and Arin Ospina Recacha
Children voices (Bengali version): Imaan Alam
Children voices (Dutch version): Janneke Kramers
Children voices (Catalan version): Maria Gamper Cappuccio and Unai Termes Marco
Bengali Translation: Sohini Alam
Dutch Translation: Emilie Hulsmans (Krokusfestival)
Catalan Translation: Daniel Gamper Sachse
Production Manager: Ben Moon and Chris Burr
Original Images by Rocío Chacón and Camilla Greenwell
