Le Gymnase - National Centre of Choreographic Development - Roubaix | Hauts-de-France

Sottobosco + Songs of a Wayfarer

Chiara Bersani (Italy) // Claire Cunningham (United Kingdom)

We're taking you to the NEXT Festival!
With a shuttle bus leaving from the Gymnase, discover two shows in one evening.

  • 14+
  • 50 mins // ≈ 75 mins
  • NEXT Festival
12€ /24€
[Shuttle bus departs from Le Gymnase at 5pm]

Sottobosco + Songs of a Wayfarer

We’re taking you to the NEXT Festival!
With a shuttle bus leaving from the Gymnase, discover two shows in one evening.

Sottobosco
Chiara Bersani (Italy)
Created in 2023 | 50 mins
Chiara Bersani explores the relationship between disabled bodies and the environment. Enriched by her encounters with disabled children, the Italian artist loses herself with them in an undergrowth. Sottobosco plays with light and sound to make the bodies disappear in harmony with nature.

Songs of a Wayfarer
Claire Cunningham (United Kingdom)
Created in 2024 | ≈ 1h15
Songs of a Wayfarer was originally a cycle of four songs composed by Gustav Mahler. Claire Cunningham drew inspiration from it for her eponymous solo. Using dance, song and a pair of crutches, the choreographer examines the act of travelling for bodies that are prevented from doing so.

Cast and creatives

Sottobosco
Design, text: Chiara Bersani
Performance: Chiara Bersani, Elena Sgarbossa
Sound dramaturgy: Lemmo
Technical direction, set design, lighting: Valeria Foti
Costumes: Ettore Lombardi
Dramaturgy: Chiara Bersani, Giulia Traversi
Artistic consultant: Marco D’Agostin
Assistant and touring : Simone Chiacchiararelli
Care and production for workshop : Chiara Boitani
Promotion, curatorship, booking : Guilia Traversi
Communication and press kit : Dalila D’Amico
Video and photos : Alice Brazzit
Logistic and organisation, producer : Eleonora Cavallo
Administration : Chiara Fava

 

Songs of a Wayfarer
Conceived, choreographed and performed: Claire Cunningham
Artistic Collaborator: Julia Watts Belser
Associate Director: Dan Watson
Dramaturgy: Luke Pell
Set and Costume Design: Bethany Wells
Lighting Design: Chris Copland
Sound Design: Matthias Herrmann
Video Design: Michelle Ettlin
Executive Producer: Nadja Dias
Project & Access Producer: Vicky Wilson
Production Manager: Gregor Knüppel
Technician: Keir Martin
Company Stage Manager: Anastasia Booth
Administrative Support (for HZT): Susanne Adam & Jeanette Gogoll
Mountaineering Consultants: Cormac Lynch and Simone Kenyon
Artistic Access Consultancy: Nelly Kelly, Panthea, Angela Alves, Rita Mazza, Naomi Sanfo -Ansorge

 

Production credits

Sottobosco
Production: corpoceleste c.c.0.0#
Coproduction: Stronger Peripheries: A Southern Coalition: Tamdem “connecting dots” L’Arboreto Teatro Dimora (Mondaino) Sardegna Teatro (Cagliari), Theaterfestival boulevard (a-Hertogenbosh), Bunker (Ljubljana), Carreau du Temple établissement culturel et sportif de la ville de Paris (Paris), Tanzhaus nrw (Düsseldorf), Tanzt Im August / HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), Rosendal Teater, DansIT (Trondheim), Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER vzw / Arts Centre VIERNULVIER (Gent), Snaporazverein (Samaden), SPIELART Theaterfestival (Munich), Fuorimargine Centro di produzione della Danza (Cagliari), Le Gymnase CDCN Roubaix – Hauts-de-France.
Apap – FEMINIST FUTURES, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Support: MiC – DIREZIONE GENERALE SPETTACOLO (ITA), Centrale Fies (Dro), Homo Novus Festival International Festival of Contemporary Theatre (Riga), Santarcangelo Festival project included in the European project BE PART co-financed by the Creative Europe program of the European Union (Santarcangelo di Romagna), Skånes Dansteater (Malmö), IntercettAzioni – Centro di Residenza Artistica della Lombardia (Milan).

Project winner of Toscana Terra Accogliente, a project by R.A.T. Residenze Artistiche Toscane, in collaboration with Teatro Metastasio, Fondazione Toscana Spettacolo, Virgilio Sieni Danza, Fabbrica Europa. Creative residency in Officine Papage – Teatro dei Coraggiosi (Pomarance), Teatro delle Commedie (Livorno), Teatro Popolare d’Arte (Lastra a Signa)

Songs of a Wayfarer
Production: Claire Cunningham
Coproduction: Mousonturm Frankfurt, Next Festival Kotrijk, HAU Hebbel am Ufer & No Limits Festival Berlin, No Limits Festival Hong Kong, Kammerspiele Munich, Sadler’s Wells London, Dampfzentrale Bern.
Created as part of the Einstein Strategic Professorship ‘Choreography, Dance and Disability Arts’ at the HZT Berlin.