music : rythm and sound, dopplereffekt, christian rizzo
texts from christian rizzo translated by i-fang lin
produced by : l'association fragile
coproduction : SACD and Avignon Festival in the "Le Sujet a Vif" programme 2008, l'apostrophe, scene nationale de Cergy-Pontoise et du Val d'Oise and the French Institute of New-York for the Festival "Crossing the Line 2008".
with the support of Opera de Lille and Taipei Artist Village.
special thanks to Hsin-Yin Shih, ex attachee culturelle of the French Institute of Taipei
l'association fragile is supported by the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication/DRAC Nord-Pas de Calais and by Culturesfrance for its overseas tours.
Since 2007, l'association fragile / Christian Rizzo has been in residence at the Opera de Lille.
Press
Positives attitudes
(...) With few props, a black screen, a window-box planter, a mic, speakers, and a suitcase, they set pictures, atmospheres. We always find something of a fashion show in Rizzo's work.
It's a good thing, as I-Fang Lin is plastically impeccable, and wears strict clothes with glasses as nicely as cute colorful dresses (with a hat, with a visor).
She moves slowly, then stops, as if she was posing. But not in these silly poses that transform the most serious top model into a dumb chick. Torsions and plies are powerful, and elegant.
Up on biting shoes (high heels), she transforms the space by moving light lines, and she is as perfect when dancing on the floor a kind of choreography for legs, stretching each fragment.
To enjoy contemplation.(...)
Marie-Christine Vernay - Liberation - Tuesday, July 15 2008
Three Artistic Journeys
(...) The untitled solo Mr. Rizzo created for the Taiwanese dancer I-Fang Lin began on another quotidian note, with Ms. Lin setting up shop in the larger back studio, a utilitarian white space.
Everything was placed just so: the tubular neon lights she positioned against the walls, the speaker placed on its side, the thick black cord snaking along the gray floor. The effect was painterly, and Ms. Lin's slow, voluptuous movement in this spare but rich environment belonged as much to the realm of sculpture as choreography, particularly during a passage in which she lay on her back, facing away from the audience, and maneuvered her long,lean legs into sensual, angled patterns.
She wore shiny black high heels, a dark suit and thickly framed glasses; spoke fluid, untranslated phrases into a microphone; and moved deliberately but restlessly about the white room.
Nothing was explained about this foreign, isolated woman, who appeared lost, despite - or maybe because of - her tightly controlled, coiled movements. As with the other two parts of Mr. Rizzo's project, the simplicity of the solo's structure allows for a lush mystery to remain at its center.
Ms. Lin is a remarkable performer, and a smart one: she chose wisely commissioning this solo through the Sujets a Vif program of the Avignon Festival.
But if Mr. Rizzo has made her a compelling portrait, he has also made one of himself. And it is dazzling.
Claudia La Rocco - New-York Times - From the Quotidian to the Magical - September 29, 2008