EMILIO CALCAGNO

CURRICULUM VITAE

Emilio Calcagno is an artist of many different talents.

After studying in Angers’s CNDC (National Centre for Contemporary Dance) under the direction of Joëlle Bouvier and Régis Obadia, he joined the Preljocaj Ballet in 1995 allowing him to dance on the most prestigious international stages (Joyce Theater of New York, Sidney Opera, Tel Aviv…). He then became in charge of the pedagogic activities, while starting his activity as a choreographer. He launched several cultural projects: dancing and writing in libraries, performing in museums and art galleries, working in prisons on time and space … Moreover, with his  video readings, he offered the audience an original analysis of choreographic works and another way to look at dance.

He has been a regular guest of many institutions (Scenario pubblico – Italy, CNSM-Lyon, Centre national de la danse in Paris, …) as a teacher, a choreographer or a jury member. He developed an artistic experience with the CIANT (International Center for Art and New Technologies / Czech Republic) within a device combining dance, video and new technologies in Prague (2005). He created the Body Shopping (installations in department stores’ showcases) for the launching of the Pavillon Noir in 2006. He also was in charge of the European project D.A.N.C.E. (under the artistic direction of Angelin Preljocaj, Frédéric Flamand, William Forsythe and Wayne Mac Gregor) between 2005 and 2007.

In 2006, Emilio Calcagno decided to create the ECO dance company and started a residency at the Théâtre de la Faïencerie in Creil. Emilio is now a fully fledged choreographer, with numerous creations: Osso Bucco, Comète Comix, Peter Pan, Nouvelle Vague – Génération Bagnolet (New Wave – the Bagnolet Generation), Archipel (Archipelago)… a series of work ranging from plastic arts installations to the comics environment. His choreographic gift also led him to work for the advertising world: in 2009 he choreographed a film with Jonathan Glazer and Denis Lavant in Farnese Palace in Rome.

In 2012, he started working on two ambitious creations: Gourmandises (Sweets), within the context of the Rousseau 2012 year, and Donkey Skin, the choreographic adaptation of the strange and still very contemporary fairy tale.

Gourmandises is a quartet, accompanied on stage by two musicians Aurélien Richard and Karol Beffa. With this creation, Emilio takes the challenge of imagining a show that took into consideration Rousseau’s dear nature while powerfully bringing out its oneiric, fantastic and feminine side, as seen by the universal child of Rousseau’s Confessions – magnification of fruits, flowers and animals, in an innocent imaging, free of any rational conscience. Like the atmosphere of Queen Marie-Antoinette’s garden, the dancers perform in colourful costumes, furnished with satin and lace, on offbeat contemporary music.

Donkey Skin was never choreographed before. Inspired by the versions written by the Grimm brothers and by Perrault, Emilio Calcagno has imagined a piece for twelve dancers evolving in a universe with its very own contemporary aesthetics, glamour and frigid at the same time. A story about a woman, about beauty, about manipulation, transformation…

For the 2014-15 season, Emilio’s new challenge is to work on a major figure of cinema, Hitchcock… A true challenge: bringing Hitchcock into a choreographic world.

Emilio’s avowed ambition is to surround himself with prestigious collaborators who belong to different universes and to go further with the questioning of popular imaging characters, in order to reflect their potential violence under the glacis of the smooth and polished appearance. His creations reflect his complex and demanding personality who likes to take risks.

Creations

– Peau d’âne (Donkey Skin), in collaboration with the Orchestre de Picardie – première at the Théâtre National de Chaillot, Paris, November 2012,
– Gourmandises (Sweets), in collaboration with Karol Beffa and Aurélien Richard, a project accredited « Année Rousseau 2012 »
– Archipel (Archipelago, choreographic installations), in collaboration with Tim Dinter, François Ayroles, Ruppert and Mulot, Théâtre de la Faïencerie – Creil, la Ferme du Buisson 2010
– Pôle d’Intervention Chorégraphique (Choreographic Intervention Pole), Théâtre de la Faïencerie – Théâtre de Creil, 2009/2010
– Nouvelle Vague, Génération Bagnolet , (New Wave – the Bagnolet Generation), National Dance Center, 2009
– Comète Comix, in collaboration with Marie Caillou, 2008
– Peter Pan, in collaboration with Olivier Dubois and Régis Loisiel, 2007
– En Sourdine (Mute mode), in collaboration with Olivier Dubois and Stéphane Blanquet, 2006
– Jeux (Games), premiere at Avignon Opera House, June 2005
– Virus, premiere at the New Technologies Festival, Prague, April 2005
– Sève (Sap), creation for the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse of Lyon, in the Maison de la Danse, 2004
– K, solo, commission by the Teatro Libero of Palermo, Italy, 2004
– Pedro & Paula, performance, Balle Theatro of Porto, Portugal, 2002
– Osso Buco, performance, National Choreographical Center of Aix-en-Provence, 2001
– Les Ouvrières (the Female Workers), Théâtre Antoine Vitez, Aix-en-Provence, 2000