In its statement, the jury emphasises the multidisciplinary artistic approach and the Europe-wide radius of Marie Gourdain's work. On the one hand, a stringent, individual choreographic and pictorial signature is evident in her works. On the other hand, Marie Gourdain sees herself as part of several local scenes and appreciates the reliable working relationships within a company, thus providing a direct link to Caroline Neubers' artistic biography.
Next step in her artistic career
"With her new long-term project Mu-Tation, which focuses on the theme of metamorphosis, the mutation of bodies, Marie Gourdain enters a new thematic and artistic field. With its decision, the jury wishes to support this next step in her artistic career. With Marie Gourdain, a young artist with international and interdisciplinary activities is coming to Leipzig", the jury said in its statement.
Marie Gourdain's place of work during the fellowship will be LOFFT - THE THEATRE. The independent production house situated at Spinnerei had nominated her for the scholarship.
The award ceremony for the scholarship and the prize money will take place on 5 November 2020 as part of the euro-scene Leipzig festival. The scholarship holder's work stay is scheduled to begin at the beginning of 2021.
The members of the jury were
- Martine Dennewald, former artistic director of the Festival Theaterformen Braunschweig
- Meike Fechner, Managing Director ASSITEJ e.V. International Association of Theatre for Children and Youth
- Lisa Jopt, actress and president of the ensemble network
- Agnès Limbos, Artistic Director, Compagnie Gare Centrale Brussels
- Carena Schlewitt, Director Hellerau - European Centre for the Arts Dresden
Working Biography Marie Gourdain
The French choreographer, scenographer and visual artist Marie Gourdain was born in 1986. Since 2010 she has been developing her artistic activities mainly in Prague and also works in various pro-jects in Europe.
Her artistic work combines her training in the visual arts with contemporary dance, focusing on the elements of graphic and sculptural composition (lines and forms, texture, values, form, proportion, space, scale, repetition and rhythm) and the detailed analysis of movement. The result are complex choreographies that form an intersection of a very visual, shaped and focused approach to the body and movement. They are characterised by a mixture of different forms of expression and physical presence as well as the manipulation of scenographic props and the use of constructions on stage. There is always a wide scope for intuition, improvisation and humour.
Studied animation film in Paris
Marie Gourdain studied animation film at ENSAD Paris (École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décorat-ifs) and ENSAD Paris (École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs) as well as the VŠUP in Pra-gue. She received the Frédéric de Carfort Prize (2011) and the ENSAD Sculpture Prize (2009). for her work in sculpture. In the Czech Republic, she worked in the field of animated film from 2010 to 2014, before returning to theatre and dance.
As a set designer she has worked for many choreographers, including Karine Ponties (2017), Rita Gobi (2018), Andrea Miltnerová, Barbora Látalová, Zdenka Svíteková (2016), Lucia Kašiarová (2014) and in various in situ projects for the KoresponDance festival (Dominique Boivin, Jean Gaudin, Pierre Nadaud, 2014-2018).
Choreographic work at theatre
At the same time she joined the French-Czech physical theatre and dance collective tYhle in 2015 and started her choreographic work. Today, Marie Gourdain has three pieces in the collective's repertoire: UN (2016), in which she performs alongside Florent Golfier, LEGOrytmus (2017) and Medúza (2018). She is currently creating two new plays: Mu-Tation and Icarus (working title).
Marie Gourdain is also developing a pedagogical work with the dancer and choreographer Hana Po-lanská Turečková, based on Rudolf Laban's analysis of movement and compositional principles. They combine choreography and visual arts, inspired in particular by the work and ideas of Oskar Schlemmer.