François Chaignaud & Nino Laisné

This performance features (in order of appearance) the Warrior Damsel tracking a young woman, who joins the army pretending to be a man, against a medieval background; García Lorca’s Saint Michael, a voluptuous archangel and the subject of devotion, as dressed up as mournful, carried in procession during the Holy Week; and Tarara, a heartbroken Andalusian Gipsy swinging between mysticism and seduction, and concealing a secret androgyny.

For some years now, Nino Laisné has been building a unique universe in which image has a privileged space. Strange images arise and engage in dialogue with other media like film and music, but also with historical and sociological elements, art, folk traditions, fashion, cabaret and opera.

François Chaignaud was born in Rennes and started his dance studies at the age of 6. He graduated in 2003 from the National Superior Conservatory of Paris for Music and Dance (France), and he soon collaborated with several choreographers such as Boris Charmatz, Emmanuelle Huynh, Alain Buffard and Gilles Jobin. Chaignaud’s works combine dance and music, they are presented in different locations and they take inspiration from numerous sources. The scope of his research ranges from the forerunners of modern choreography from the beginning of 20th century (François Malkovsky, Isadora Duncan) to the most recent practices, from the technique and symbolism of classical ballet to urban dances.