Cabaret Latin by Karine Saporta

Karine Saporta is a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur and an Officier des Arts et des Lettres. She founded the Association des Centre Chorégraphiques Nationaux of which she is the first President. She was elected for the second time President of the Dance Commission and Vice-President of the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD - Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers) in 2004.

Right from the start, Karine Saporta defended at the highest level the artistic values responsible for her recognition and approval by the most eminent specialists as one of the leading figures of contemporary art today. 

She has been welcomed in all major dance venues, in France and abroad, with very many choreographies.

At the cutting edge of research into the body and the work of emotion in the dancer, she has revealed highly personal work methods.

Improvisation and technique but also reflection on dance themes and history form the foundations of Karine Saporta’s artistic and intellectual approach.

Her art is made up of baroque or dreamlike worlds, harbouring figures of flesh and wax, of giddiness of the senses and troubled hearts, of flamboyant pictorial images. 

From the Hispanic universe of the “Taureaux de Chimène” to the gothic images of “La princesse de Milan” or of the show “Le Spectre ou les Manèges du ciel”, not to mention the cinematographic form of certain productions such as “Le Bal du siècle” created at the Festival International du Film de Cannes in tribute to the centenary of cinema, or “Wild”, the choreographer shapes as much as a personal style the new forms of the performing arts.

Author, filmmaker and video artist Charles Picq (1952-2012) entered working life in the 70s through theatre and photography. A- fter resuming his studies (Maîtrise de Linguistique - Lyon ii, Maîtrise des sciences et Techniques de la Communication - grenoble iii), he then focused on video, first in the field of fine arts at the espace Lyonnais d'art Contemporain (ELAC) and with the group « Frigo », and then in dance.
   On creation of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon in 1980, he was asked to undertake a video documentation project that he has continued ever since. During the ‘80s, a decade marked in France by the explosion of contemporary dance and the development of video, he met numerous artists such as andy Degroat, Dominique Bagouet, Carolyn Carlson, régine Chopinot, susanne Linke, Joëlle Bouvier and regis Obadia, Michel Kelemenis. He worked in the creative field with installations and on-stage video, as well as in television with recorded shows, entertainment and documentaries.

His work with Dominique Bagouet (80-90) was a unique encounter. He documents his creativity, assisting with Le Crawl de Lucien and co-directing with his films Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux and 10 anges. in the 90s he became director of video development for the Maison de la Danse and worked, with the support of guy Darmet and his team, in the growing space of theatre video through several initiatives:
       - He founded a video library of dance films with free public access. This was a first for France. Continuing the video documentation of theatre performances, he organised their management and storage.
       - He promoted the creation of a video-bar and projection room, both dedicated to welcoming school pupils.
       - He started «présentations de saisons» in pictures.
       - He oversaw the DVD publication of Le tour du monde en 80 danses, a pocket video library produced by the Maison de la Danse for the educational sector.

       - He launched the series “scènes d'écran” for television and online. He undertook the video library's digital conversion and created Numeridanse.

His main documentaries are: enchaînement, Planète Bagouet, Montpellier le saut de l'ange, Carolyn Carlson, a woman of many faces, grand ecart, Mama africa, C'est pas facile, Lyon, le pas de deux d'une ville, Le Défilé, Un rêve de cirque.

He has also produced theatre films: Song, Vu d'ici (Carolyn Carlson), Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux, 10 anges, Necesito and So schnell, (Dominique Bagouet), Im bade wannen, Flut and Wandelung (Susanne Linke), Le Cabaret Latin (Karine Saporta), La danse du temps (Régine Chopinot), Nuit Blanche (Abou Lagraa), Le Témoin (Claude Brumachon), Corps est graphique (Käfig), Seule et WMD (Françoise et Dominique Dupuy), La Veillée des abysses (James Thiérrée), Agwa (Mourad Merzouki), Fuenteovejuna (Antonio Gades), Blue Lady revistied (Carolyn Carlson).

Source: Maison de la Danse de Lyon