After working with scores by Pierre Boulez, Rebecca Saunders and Gat himself for Story Water, his last production for Festival d’Avignon 2018, Emanuel Gat pursues his long time exploration of the meeting points between the choreographic and the musical, the visual and the auditory, and the potentials they hold for observation, study and story telling. 

LOVETRAIN2020 unfolds within this charged space of references, counterpoints and endless possibilities, where movement and sound interact to once again, and from a different angle, reveal the obvious yet almost transparent layers in which people come together, drift apart, push and pull, question, resolute and move forward. 

A contemporary “Musical” for 14 dancers, LOVETRAIN2020 will call upon the wonderful music of the 80s British duo Tears for Fears (Mad world, Shout, Everybody Wants to Rule The World, Change, Sowing The Seeds Of Love and many other incredible hits from that glorious decade). A choreographic ode to the sound and vibe of the 80s, as embodied in the music of Tears For Fears, with its utopic drive and epic groove.

Source: Emanuel Gat Dance

More information: emanuelgatdance.com

Emanuel Gat was born in Israel in 1969. After his military service, he entered the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv, with the aim of developing his musical practice. His first encounter with dance was at the age of 23 during a workshop led by Israeli choreographer Nir Ben Gal. Few months later, he joined the Liat Dror Nir Ben Gal Company with whom he created two works and toured internationally. He started working as an independent choreographer in 1994.

During the following ten years, Gat has developed a unique and personal approach to choreography and dance making, through numerous projects, collaborations and creation processes, setting the foundations for his artistic vision and laying the groundwork for his future body of work.

He founded his company, Emanuel Gat Dance, at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv in 2004, and has since created a diverse repertoire of works. His first pieces for the company were created that same year: “Winter Voyage” to the music of Franz Schubert and “The Rite of Spring”, his original take on Stravinski’s masterpiece, which received a Bessy Award for best choreography for their presentation at Lincoln Center Festival in New York in 2006. He then created “K626” (2006) and “3for2007” (2007), before choosing to settle in France.

“Silent Ballet” (2008) was the first piece created in France, followed by “Winter Variations” in 2009 and “Brilliant Corners” in 2011 for which Gat also composed the music score. By that time, Emanuel Gat Dance has gained international recognition for its unique voice and has toured regularly to the four corners of the world to great critical acclaim.

In 2013, Emanuel Gat was named associated artist to the Montpellier Danse Festival, where he created “The Goldlandbergs” and “Corner Etudes”, and presented a photographic installation that was his debut work as a photographer. In 2014, he created “Plage Romantique and “SUNNY” in 2016, a collaboration with musician Awir Leon.

In 2017, Gat developed a unique collaboration with the Ballet de l'Opera de Lyon for the creation of “TENWORKS”, a program of ten short pieces mixing dancers from both companies; and “DUOS”, a series of site specific duets presented in several Museums and at different public locations. In 2018, Gat was named associated artist to the National Theater of Chaillot in Paris, and during that same year he collaborated with the prestigious Ensemble Modern from Frankfurt and created "Story Water" at the Cour d'Honneur at the Palais des Papes, one of the most iconic stages in the world during the Festival d’Avignon, gathering 12 dancers and 13 musicians, with music by Pierre Boulez, Rebecca Saunders and Gat himself.

Gat’s work was presented in most of the leading venues and festivals for dance all around the world for the past 25 years, danced by a strong and diverse group of long term collaborators. Parallel to his choreographic work, Gat designs the lighting to all of his works, making it an integral component of his creative process.

In recent years, Gat developed a photographic practice and has presented elaborate photographic installations alongside his stage work, through a series of photographs, dedicated to and inspired by specific pieces from his repertoire.

In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Gat created “LOVETRAIN2020”, a work for 14 dancers to the music of Tears For Fears. The work has seen its premier between two lockdowns early October, and received overwhelming response from audiences and critics alike. Gat is currently associated artist to l’Arsenal - Cité Musicale, Metz and is in the process of creating a new work to Puccini’s opera “Tosca”.

Gat is regularly invited by companies and dance institutions for which he creates or transmits pieces: in France, he has collaborated with Paris Opera Ballet, Ballet du Rhin, Ballet National de Marseille, Ballet de Lorraine and Ballet de l'Opéra de Lyon. He is also guest choreographer of prestigious international companies: Sydney Dance Company, Tanztheater Bremen, Candoco Dance Company, Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, Los Angeles Dance Project, Czech National Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Polish National Ballet, Cedar Lake (NY), Vancouver Ballet British Columbia, Scottish Dance Theater and Staatsballett Berlin.

During his entire career, Gat has developed a rich methodological set of tools and an original pedagogical approach to dance making. He is regularly invited to teach and collaborate with the world's leading dance schools and institutions, and in parallel, offers through Emanuel Gat Dance regular options for young dancers and makers to immerse themselves in his practice, through internships, workshops and master classes.

Source : Emanuel Gat 's website

More information

emanuelgat.com

Photographer born in Israel in 1997 and based in the South of France.  After studying for a BA (Hons) in Arts and Humanities at the Open  University (UK), Gat's work won the First Prize of Festival Portrait(s)  de Vichy in 2016 and has been exhibited in Europe and New York in  various spaces, including the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in  Paris in 2017. She has recently been discovered by Photo Talent Academy,  a TV documentary produced by PHOTO Magazine and Huawei Mobile on Paris  Première. Interested in supporting emerging artists herself, Gat created  Family Business. It is a curatorial project that highlights the context  of her thematic, family documentation, presenting international  photographers at Exchange Rates Art Fair in New York and Festival  Quinzaine Israélienne in Marseille in 2016.

Source : Julia Gat's website

More information : www.juliagatphotography.com