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As of 1 March 2010 Dance Works Rotterdam entered a new artistic phase with the appointment of André Gingras as artistic director. Under the leadership of Gingras, Dance Works Rotterdam/André Gingras puts contemporary dance in a social context: it brings relevant moral dilemmas into the theatre with energetic and raw dance. The company emphasizes collaboration and dialogue with other organizations and artist beyond the boundaries of contemporary dance. Gingras' international network and experience gives the company a new impulse.

Dance Works Rotterdam/André Gingras is one of the oldest, still existing modern dance companies in the Netherlands. The company was founded in 1975 by Käthy Gosschalk as Werkcentrum Dans. In 1988 Gosschalk changed the name to De Rotterdamse Dansgroep (The Rotterdam Dance Company). Gosschalk directed the company with a clearly recognizable vision for 25 years. Ton Simons was appointed artistic director in 1999 which led to Dance Works Rotterdam in 2001. Since this time the company has toured succesfully abroad to the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Cyprus, France, Romania, Russia and Indonesia.

Since its inception, the company has played an important part in the development of dance as a valuable component of contemporary culture. Many renowned Dutch dance artists started their career with the company, including Anouk van Dijk, Hans Tuerlings and Ed Wubbe. Throughout its rich history, the company has danced works by major international choreographers such as Merce Cunningham, Jacopo Godani, Bill T. Jones, Amanda Miller and Stephen Petronio. The latest coproduction (LIBIDO) which exemplifies the new artistic direction of the company, is with Canadian choreographer Dave St. Pierre. In this new phase, Dance Works Rotterdam/André Gingras remains at the forefront of choreographic developments through Gingras' repertory and dynamic new collaborations with internationally renowned artists.

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André Gingras Biography

André Gingras was born in Canada and studied in Toronto, Montréal and New York City. He came to New York City to pursue his dance education where he worked with Christopher Gillis, Doug Varone, and the Doris Humphrey Repertory Co. In 1996 Gingras became a regular member of Robert Wilson’s creative team, developing and performing TSE, The Days Before, Prometheus, 70 Angels on the Facade and Relative Light among others, all over the world.

Gingras began his activities as a choreographer in the Netherlands in 1999. After an extensive career in dance and theatre, his desire to explore a highly physical and visual language began to manifest itself. His exploration of movement finds its inspiration in martial arts, freerunning, the physical symptoms related to specific medical conditions, and in post-modern dance and theatre. His desire is to interface dance with the visual and digital arts and to engage audiences in a dialogue based in contemporary issues.

His first stage work, the Korzo production CYP17 premiered at the CaDance Festival 2000 and made a large impact internationally. An extensive tour throughout the Netherlands was followed by many invitations from festivals and theatres in Europe, Asia and North America, including the Rencontres Chorégraphiques de Seine-Saint Denis (Bagnolet), Bangalore Biennale, Romaeuropa Festival, Sydney Opera House, Baryshnikov Arts Center and the Biennale of Venice.

In the following years, his collaboration with Korzo continued with The Sweet Flesh Room, The Lindenmeyer System, Hypertopia, zeropoint, trans.form, The Autopsy Project, IDORU and Les Commerçants. Gingras’ work has successfully toured through North America, Europe, Australia and Asia garnering critical acclaim throughout the years.

Since 2002 his work has been commissioned by a number of prestigious artists, organizations and companies worldwide including Netherlands Dance Theatre I Mean Free Path (2004) and excessive second body smile (2005), Robert Wilson/Les Rencontres d’Arles, Iceland Dance Company, Tanztheater Beilefeld, PPS Danse, Cinedans Festival, Bangalore Biennale, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam and Rambert Dance Company.

In 2009 André Gingras was awarded a Clore Fellowship to further his development as a leader in the arts, and in March 2010 he was appointed artistic director of Dance Works Rotterdam. In season 2010/2011 Dance Works Rotterdam/André Gingras presents LIBIDO, a new collaboration with the “enfant terrible” of Canadian dance, Dave St. Pierre and the first production by its new artistic director, ANATOMICA.

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Repertory

The new proscenium production ANATOMICA shows a revival of Gingras' successful 2007 production Anatomica#3, originally produced by the Rambert Dance Company, and the newly created work Anatomica#1. In the Anatomica series, Gingras proposes the danger, beauty and consequences of the body on display.

Anatomica#3 investigates the objectification and virtuosity of the body. The piece proposes the body as an exhibition site. Politicians, Royalty, Supermodels. In contemporary society, our bodies have become sites of display; consumed by the media as role models, supermodels, museum exhibits and MTV "Made" victims. Our bodies have become objectified, repeated, pimped up and rendered meaningless. Nonetheless, the body still surprises us. It reappears in it's most personal and inspiring of forms; a subject that displays it's most extraordinary abilities and a profound fragility. In the excess of display, how low can we sink and how high can we fly? In Anatomica#3, the possibilities of physical exhibitionism are fully available from wry commentary to breathtaking leaps through space.

The new work, Anatomica #1 that will premiere April 2, 2011 at the Rotterdamse Schouwburg, returns to the central idea: why is there a drive towards display? The animal kingdom is rife with images of display, particularly focused around courtship, ritual and sexual attraction. Anatomica #1 proposes to dissect these elaborate rituals and behaviors and investigates the basic drives behind these acts of display. As a species, how far will we go in our need to be recognized and found attractive?

"Oh, darling, let your body in, let it tie you in, in comfort."
Anne Sexton (1928 - 1974)

"I am a deeply superficial person."
Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987)

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