Big break for dancer
A BIRMINGHAM choreographer is in line for a top national dance award after being chosen from nearly 200 applicants.
Mickael ‘Marso’ Riviere is through to the final 20 in the Place Prize for Dance 2008 in London which is deemed the ‘Turner Prize of dance’.
The 32-year-old Frenchman, who has made Birmingham his home for nearly ten years, has created a piece for four dancers, including himself, which will be performed over the next two weeks with the overall winner being named at the end of the month.
Edgbaston-based Mickael, who blends breakdancing, popping, Capoeira, contemporary dance, circus skills and drama, says the work aims to look at breaking points – in movement and in life.
“The piece explores various situations where a person reaches breaking point. It is inspired by Bboy dancing,” says Mickael, who teaches classes at the city centre’s DanceXchange and through the website Bboy’s Attic.
“When you step into the dance circle then you have the urge to get to the floor. That takes you from one place to another. You are right in the centre.
“That is something you find in life in general. Something happens and you step from normal being to irrational being. There is a breaking point and you snap into something different.”
Mickael is up against some stiff competition in the contest with choreographers including former and current members of many top companies including New Adventures, Rambert, Russell Maliphant Company and Phoenix Dance.
But should he win, he is following in the footsteps of former finalists who have gone on to gain international renown such as Hofesh Shechter and Rafael Bonachela.
Mickael, who founded local company Dance Decalage, hopes to pick up the top prize of £25,000 and invest it in his dance work in
Share
