Serpentine and Sadler’s Wells come together in a first partnership to present the UK premiere of Fauve, by leading Greek dancer, choreographer and writer Lenio Kaklea, in Lilian Baylis Studio.
In Fauve, Lenio Kaklea interrogates Westernised relationships with the natural world and draws on literary references to meticulously choreograph a ‘rewilding of the bodies’. Through on-stage dances, exercises and rituals, three performers including Kaklea explore the need to reclaim ‘wildness’, redefining what it means, away from traditionally limiting interpretations. Linking Kaklea’s choreography to the geographical, environmental and poetic richness of the forest, Fauve positions dance as another wild zone to defend.
The work also investigates the themes of ecofeminism, queer identities and the refusal of domestication. The forest becomes a magical place where identities and bodies are in a constant state of metamorphosis, encounters between humans and animals take place, and emotions from wonder to terror come to the fore.
Lenio Kaklea said:
The title, Fauve, takes me back to the cultural history of this word that I often hear in Greek to mean a non-domesticated wild animal or an antisocial woman or girl. In my eyes, these free women refuse to see their destiny as being associated with the domestic (oikos). They are looking to blossom outside of the context of marriage, reproduction, and the home. Placing the word “fauve” at the heart of this creation allows me to link our perception of female sexuality to our relationship with the world of the wild. It’s my way of invoking an otherness to domestication.
Bettina Korek, CEO, Serpentine and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director said:
We’re thrilled to present this new performance by Greek choreographer Lenio Kaklea co-commissioned by Serpentine to UK audiences for the first time. Fauve is a visceral performance which questions significant and current themes of identity, relationship to nature and intimacy. Amplifying our live programme and placing dance at its centre, the programme fosters our mission of building new connections between artists and audiences. We couldn’t be prouder to collaborate with Sadler’s Wells, one of the world’s leading dance organisations for more than three centuries.
Rob Jones, Sadler’s Wells Associate Artistic Director said:
We’re so excited to be working in patron-ship with Serpentine to present the work of Lenio Kaklea. This artist’s work feels like the perfect point of inquiry for our two institutions to meet and collaborate. We look forward to hosting them in October and to more fruitful collaborations in future.
Since 2009, Lenio Kaklea’s artistic practice uses a wide range of media including choreography, text and video and is informed by feminism and postcolonial critique. The research for Fauve stems from literary references such as Nastassja Martin’s autobiographical narrative Croire aux fauves (In the Eye of the Wild), in which she describes her attack by a bear in the Siberian mountains, as well as Charles Stépanoff’s examination of the figure of the ‘empathic predator’ and the paradoxical relationships between hunting, protection and compassion. Jack Halberstam’s book Wild Things: The Disorder of Desire, in which the ‘wild’ is an unbounded and unpredictable space that offers opposition to modernity’s orderly impulses, also inspired Kaklea.
Serpentine’s ambitious live programme highlights the institution’s commitment to responsive, artist-led programming. Dance is integral to this mission and features across Serpentine’s programme including: previous performances by Silas Renier (2016), Mette Invgartsen (2015), Bouchra Ouizguen (2017) and Shawanda Corbett (2019); in Park Nights, Simone Forti in The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish (2018); Serafine1369 in Equilibrium: A Public Gathering on Environmental Justice (2022); bones tan jones’ Parasites of Pangu (2019) commissioned for Saturdays Live; Adham Faramawy in Queer Earth and Liquid Matters (2022); MJ Harper as part of Grace Wales Bonner’s A Time for New Dreams (2019); and Movement (2014) curated by Marina Abromovic with Wayne McGregor for Serpentine Cinema.
The project is curated and produced by Kostas Stasinopoulos, Curator, Live Programmes, Serpentine and Holly Shuttleworth, Executive Producer, HS Studio, with Daisy Gould, Assistant Curator, Live Programmes, Serpentine, Isobel Peyton Jones, Production Coordinator, Serpentine, Andy Downie, Production Manager, Velocet, and Eva Speight, Curatorial Assistant, Live Programmes, Serpentine.
Lenio Kaklea, Fauve Thursday 31st October & Friday 1st November, Sadlers Wells Lilian Baylis Studio
Duration: 1 hour no interval Tickets from £17 Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 sadlerswells.com
Fauve was developed in Strasbourg at Pôle Sud – CDCN de Strasbourg before travelling to La Briqueterie – CDCN Val de Marne. It premiered in Brussels at Kunstenfestivaldesarts in May 2023 before touring to the Athens Epidaurus Festival and ImPulsTanz International Festival and DanceWEB Life Long Burning Network in summer 2023. Fauve returned to France in late 2023 at ACTORAL Festival and later at CN D Pantin and Festival d’Automne.
About
Lenio Kaklea is a dancer, choreographer, director and artist born in Athens, Greece and based in Paris.
She studied at the National Conservatory of Contemporary Dance in Athens (SSCD), where she trained in classical ballet and American modern techniques and repertories such as Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and Jose Limon. In 2005, she was awarded the Pratsika Foundation Prize and moved to France, where she studied at the CNDC in Angers, under the direction of Emmanuelle Huynh, and collaborated with prominent figures of the European dance scene such as Alexandra Bachzetsis, Boris Charmatz, Claudia Triozzi, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea. In 2011 she completed the SPEAP program, an experimentation in arts and politics’ master directed by Bruno Latour at Sciences Po in Paris.
Since 2009, Lenio Kaklea’s artistic practice uses a wide range of media including choreography, text and video and is informed by feminism and postcolonial critique. In her work, she explores the production of subjectivity through the organized transmission of movements and reveals the intimate spaces in which we construct our identity.
Her work has been presented by institutions and festivals throughout Europe such as Festival d’automne, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, the Centre Pompidou, Bourse de Commerce-Pinault Collection, Palazzo Grassi-Pinault Collection, ImPulsTanz Festival, CN D Pantin, Lafayette Anticipations, Onassis Foundation, Athens Epidaurus Festival, the National Greek Opera, Milan’s Triennale, documenta 14/Public programs, and Les presses du réel. Her performances have joined public and private collections such as the CNAP-National Centre of Fine Arts and KADIST Foundation.
Along with her personal choreographic work, she is engaged in collaborations with other artists. In 2013, Kaklea presented a collaboration with the American choreographer Lucinda Childs on the music by Ryoji Ikeda and in 2022, she collaborated with the Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta and created a performance at Punta Della Dogana with clothes designed by Matthieu Blazy.
In 2019, Kaklea was awarded the Dance Prize of the Hermès Italia Foundation and the Triennial of Milan and created the autobiographical solo Ballad. In 2021, she choreographed Age of Crime, a piece for nine dancers, on the occasion of the bicentenary of the Greek Revolution at the Athens Epidaurus Festival, as well as Sonatas and Interludes, the emblematic work for prepared piano by John Cage, accompanied on stage by pianist Orlando Bass.?In 2024, she is nominated for the 25th Pernod Ricard Award and creates the film An Alphabet for the Camera. The same year, she choreographs Chemical Joy, a stage work for 5 dancers from BODHI PROJECT Ensemble, a contemporary dance company based in Salzbourg and founded by ex-member of the Merce Cunningham Company, Susan Quinn.
Fauve
Choreography and Stage Direction: Lenio Kaklea
Performance: Lenio Kaklea, Georgios Kotsifakis, Ioanna Paraskevopoulou
Sound Design, Video and Technical Direction: Éric Yvelin Set: Clio Boboti
Light Design: Bruno Pocheron
Costumes: Olivier Mulin
Landscape: Sophie Laly Dramaturgy and
Research: Lou Forster
Creation Assistant: Dimitris Mytilinaios
Assistant Set Designer: Filanthi Bougatsou
Pole Dance Training: Mandy Fragiadaki
Administration and Production Management: Chloé Schmidt
Bookings: KUMQUAT | performing arts (Gerco de Vroeg & Laurence Larcher)
Production: and
With the support of Fondation enterprise Hermès Co-commissioners: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Bruxelles, Serpentine, London, Athens Epidaurus Festival, CN D Pantin – Centre national de la danse, Festival d’Automne de Paris, Theater Spektakel Zürich, Pôle Sud – CDCN de Strasbourg, La Briqueterie – CDCN Val de Marne, ImPulsTanz International Festival and DanceWEB Life Long Burning Network, Le Dancing – CDCN de Dijon. abd receives the support of DRAC Ile-de-France under the title ‘Aide au conventionnement 2023-2024’.
