KLAP opened in 2011 and was conceived as a venue entirely dedicated to dance, to choreographic creation and to exchanges between dance and the community at large. Since KLAP opened, there are about a hundred companies that come work here every year.

KPAP is a complex with three spaces: a small studio of approximately 135m2 particularly devoted to educational activities, to workshops or to rehearsals for projects that don’t require a large space, or to moments of exploration and research.

There is a large studio of 270m2 with a dance space of 12x17m plus rows of seats for about one hundred people.

Finally, there is the third space which is the heart of KLAP Maison pour la danse, a performance space that features a very large stage of 15x15m. We can accommodate about 240 people during performances.

In this large space rehearsals for premieres take place, but also and more importantly, residencies for finalizing staging and lighting. At the end of these residencies, when lighting, staging and scenography are created, companies present either a preview or a world premiere.

The idea for KLAP was to find a name that was easy to remember and international. KLAP is the filmmaker’s Clap at the beginning of a scene, and KLAP is also, of course, the term used for applause, when the public has seen the final result and pays tribute to the work that has been done. Between the two, there is the entire creative act, in other words, someone can come to the Maison pour la danse and begin to dream, imagine, put processes in motion and share all this until the premiere: the encounter with the public.

Life at KLAP revolves around 4 poles of utmost importance that are however highlighted at different times in the season in the form of a festival. The first event, Question de danse, is a festival of artistic creation where works in progress can be seen, as well as world premieres of works in residence at KLAP for finalization and lighting design.

A second event takes place a little later that is primarily concerned with educational activities and with the relationship to the world at large. This festival is called festivAnges and is dedicated to dance for children and young people. It hosts performances intended for different age groups, from preschool to university students. 2500 children and young people discover the world of dance through the Maison de la danse.

The third event is dedicated to the choreographic culture and is called + de danse à Marseille. The idea is to illustrate how a gesture, although fleeting, comes from a personal story or from a larger context, the story of an art in society.

The fourth element is our relationship to the neighbourhood. This requires a rather delicate approach, which is done through participative projects, through numerous workshops and presentations of work done with children from neighbouring schools, for example.

French dancer and choreographer born in Toulouse in 1960.

After training as a gymnast, Michel Kelemenis begins dancing in Marseille at the age of 17. In 1983, he performs in the Centre Chorégraphique National de Montpellier with Dominique Bagouet and choreographs his first works, among which Aventure coloniale with Angelin Preljocaj in 1984. He was awarded the Villa Médicis Hors les Murs prize in 1987, and founded Kelemenis & cie (Association Plaisir d’Offrir) in the same year. In 1991, he received the Leonardo da Vinci scholarship and Japan’s Uchida Shogakukin fund. His numerous works (more than 60, of which 40 for his company) are performed throughout the world.

In love with movement and dancers, with those exceptional moments when gesture topples a role, Michel Kelemenis structures his works around the search for a balance between abstraction and figuration.

For his personal style, which combines finesse and athletic performance, the choreographer is invited to work with the ballets of the Paris Opera, the Rhin Opera, the Opera du Nord, the Geneva Opera and the Ballet National de Marseille.

In 2000, he directed the lyric and choreographic drama, L’Atlantide, by Henri Tomasi for the Marseille Opera. He has since collaborated with the Festival d’Art Lyrique of Aix-en-Provence: in 2003, he put to movement 4 animalacrobats in Stravinsky’s Renard, directed by Klaus-Michaël Grüber and conducted by Pierre Boulez; in 2004, he assisted Luc Bondy for the chorus movements in Handel’s Hercules, conducted by William Christie.

Since 2008, he starts a reflexion about narration concept, with an approach of creation for young audience.

Through Franch Institute, he participates regularly with French cultural services abroad in Krakow, Kyoto, Johannesburg and Los Angeles, in India, Korea and China. These trips engender training projects, new productions and bilateral exchanges with foreign companies and artists employing various modes of expression.

Numerous programs are organized in higher education and professional training institutions (Coline, Ecole Nationale de Danse de Marseille, and especially with the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon).

The 10th of december 2007, after 10 years of activity at the Studio/Kelemenis, the Conseil Municipal of Marseille votes in favor of the project Centre de danse en résidence conceived and initiated by the choreographer. Intituled KLAP Maison pour la danse, Construction begins in February 2010 with a completion date planned for spring of the following year.

Source : Kelemenis&cie

More information : http://www.kelemenis.fr/fr/