BIPED – Rome

Date:

September 4, 2024

Location:

Teatro dell’Opera di Roma - Teatro Costanzi, Rome

Le Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon

Rome: September 4th and 5th, 2024

After the end of the Cunningham Company in 2011, Biped was subsequently recreated by Robert Swinston for the Bavarian State Ballet, and then for the Compagnie Nationale de Danse Angers (CNDC Angers), where Robert was the artistic director. With the Angers company, we performed regularly in Europe, Abu Dhabi and USA from September 2018 to December 2019.

Now we have embarked on a highly successful new collaboration with the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon whose director, Cédric Andrieux, had himself been a member of the Cunningham company for many years and who danced in Biped many times. Merce always insisted on live music for his work and we have maintained that principle on every occasion.

We have now done a number of very successful performances of Beach Birds (music John Cage) and Biped with the company – in Lyon, Lodz (Poland), Ludwigshafen (Germany) and Ravenna (Italy) – and we have developed strong and friendly connections with everyone in the company: dancers, sound team, stage management, administration, artistic direction.

The programme in Rome differs slightly as along with Biped, it includes a work that does not involve my ensemble (Mycelium by Christos Papadopoulos) and without the usual Beach Birds.

The musicians: Morgan Goff, viola; James Woodrow, electric guitar; Audrey Riley, cello; Gavin Bryars, keyboard (September 4),double bass (September 5); Yuri Bryars, double bass (September 4); Alexandra Tchernakova, keyboard (September 5);

Gavin Bryars