FOOFWA D’IMOBILITE IN THE NEWYORK PREMIERE OF BENJAMIN DE BOUILLIS

JUNE 26-28, 2008

Program 

Benjamin de Bouillis

By Foofwa d’Imobilité

Thursday through Saturday, June 26-28 at 7:30pm

Baryshnikov Arts Center

Howard Gilman Performance Space

450 W. 37th Street

New York, NY  10018

Important Ticket Information

New York, NY, April 8, 2008 — TheBaryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) and Chez Bushwick are pleased to present Benjaminde Bouillis, a solo work choreographed and performed by Foofwad’Imobilité, Thursday through Saturday, June 26-28, 2008 at 7:30PM in BAC’sHoward Gilman Performance Space, 450 W. 37th Street between 9th and 10thAvenues. 

Benjamin de Bouillis, an evening-length dance piecethat premiered in 2005 at the Science et Cité Festival in Geneva, was inspiredby neurologist Olaf Blanke and his theory of “décorporation”—the sensation ofperceiving the body as foreign, exterior or from a distance.”  In this work, Foofwa gives physicalexpression to the out-of-body experience by exploring the dancer’s identity andemploying his mirrored image to make observations of the human body.  The dancing is accompanied by a vocaltrack created by sound engineer Antoine Lengo.  The NewYork premiereperformance of Benjamin de Bouillis follows a combined three-weekresidency at BAC and Chez Bushwick that took place in February 2008, duringwhich time Foofwa further developed this work and two others in his repertoire.

Foofwa d’Imobilité is the assumed name of Frédéric Gafner, a native ofGeneva, Switzerland who gained international recognition as a dancer with theMerce Cunningham Dance Company.  During his 12 years with the company, he participated in thecreation of 14 works, including Ocean, Enter and Scenario.  In 1995, he received a Bessie for his“exceptional creative achievement in the work of Merce Cunningham.”  After leaving the company in 1998, Foofwabegan developing his own choreography and has since developed a dynamic body ofwork that includes descendansce(2000), anautobiographic-choreography on the history of the body on stage; Media ViceVersa (2002), onmedia and digital images; Perform.dancerun.2 (2003), on the relation betweendance and sport; Injuria (2004), on the precarious situation of dancers; and Live & Dance (2005), which assimilates rhythmicswith everyday movements.  Foofwaalso has choreographed work for other companies, including Nederland DansTheater II, Berner Ballet, and Ballet Junior of Geneva.

Benjaminde Bouillis is co-presentedby Baryshnikov Arts Center and Chez Bushwick, with the support of ProHelvetia-Foundation (Switzerland) for Culture, the City of Geneva Department ofCultural Affairs, and the State of Geneva Department of Public Instruction.

ChezBushwick, Inc. is a Brooklyn-based organization that has emerged as a new modelfor the creation, support, and presentation of new dance and performance. Under the leadership of Jonah Bokaerin 2002, a group of artists and choreographers formed Chez Bushwick, acollaborative venture that has significantly impacted a new generation of danceartists, choreographers, and performers. Founding artists include Jonah Bokaer,Loren Dempster, Miguel Gutierrez, and Jeremy Wade, who each developed a seriesof public programs that are emblematic of a new way of working: across borders,across disciplines, employing variable aesthetic signatures, and overturningdivisions between choreographer, curator, producer, and audience member.Through strategies of collaboration, activism, and public dialogue, theseartists achieved economic amnesty during a threatening real estate and fundingclimate in New York City. With respect to choreography, its processes, and itssupport structures, new ground was broken in dance and performance.