A skillful fusion of dance, industrial design and queer aesthetics, BOGOTÁ by Andrea Peña & Artists marked the opening of the 17th Venice Biennale. A large-scale, radical and innovative work.
A choreographer with a hybrid background combining dance and design, Andrea Peña is renowned for her rigorous conceptual creations, conceived as installations, where the body dialogues with materiality. Of dual Canadian-Colombian origin, she revisits her Latin-American roots with a resolutely postcolonial eye. Working with nine performers and some fifteen collaborators, BOGOTÁ recreates the teeming, highly contrasted landscape of the Colombian capital, where chaos, collective resilience and effervescent creativity come together. Inspired by Latin American baroque and ancestral magic realism from a queer perspective, the work delves into the themes of death and rebirth so deeply rooted in this culture. Visceral, transgressive and spellbinding, this is a daring challenge, halfway between stage performance and dance theater, that pushes off every limit!
credits
Artistic direction Andrea Peña Choreography Andrea Peña in collaboration with the artists Dancers Nicholas Bellefleur, Charlie Prince, Jo Laïny Trozzo-Mounet, Jean-Benoît Labrecque, Jontae McCrory, Erin O'loughlin, Francois Richard, Frédérique Rodier, Chi Long Lighting design Hugo Dalphond Sound design Debbie Doe Dramaturgy Angélique Willkie Artistic advisor Helen Simard Costumes design Jonathan Saucier and Polina Boltova Set design Jonathan Saucier and Andrea Peña Technical direction Conrad St-Gelais Visuals Bobby Leon, Felix Godbout Delavaud, Antoine Ryan / Kevin Calero, Andrea Peña Graphic design Rico Rica Producers Polina Boltova and Isaïe Richard Co-producers Agora De la Danse, Danse Danse, International Contemporary Dance Festival: La Biennale di Venezia. Andrea Peña received support from the International Contemporary Dance Festival: La Biennale di Venezia, Agora de la Danse.
