Where is our place? What happens when we have nothing left to hold on to? Do we remain? These are the questions asked by new dance work Living Here? which runs as part of the VAULT Festival later this spring. Book your tickets now!
The inaugural work staged by Ayenai runs at The Vaults from 7-8 March 2020.
The company’s first work as a collective is deeply rooted on the personal experience of living in a foreign country. Their work tries to answer questions such as, What does it take to make yourself at home in a hostile environment that is constantly shifting?” Conquering their own personalities and the space that holds them is an ongoing journey where often obstacles become a support and, most importantly, the motor that keeps them going.
Living Here? is a collaboration between four personalities. Two dancers – Aurore Vigneron and Isabel Álvarez – and two musicians – Peter Thomas and Andrea Todesco – each coming from a different country, come together to become one unit.
The cast of Living Here
Vigneron trained in Contemporary, Jazz and Classical at the Artistic Center EPSEDANSE in Montpellier. Having worked with La Licorne Company and collaborated with Emilie Calcagno, she took her first choreographic steps in 2016 with her piece Breathe, and moved to London where she began the Ayenai Project.
Valencia-born Alvarez studied Classical Dance at the Professional School Mari Cruz Alcalá before joining the Ballet Classico de Valencia. Her career has seen her work with Gerard Collins Company, Company Cienfuegos Danza, New Movement Collective, Henri Oguike Dance and more. She joined the Ayenai Project in 2018.
Thomas is a double bass player who has worked across the UK and Europe. He recently toured with Argentinian guitarist Gonzalo Bergara, where he met guitarist, composer and regular on the Gypsy Jazz London scene Todesco.
Writing about Living Here?, when it ran as part of 2019’s Resolution Festival, Donald Hutera commented:
“The percolating – but also lulling – rhythms of their live soundtrack bolstered the movement of co-choreographers Aurore Vigneron and Isabel Alvarez. The women played sober territorial games on a symbolic centrestage sofa – could it be the UK? They rolled, flipped and fell over, off and around this sole piece of furniture in a questioning exercise designed to address the (Brexit-heightened) idea of how hard it can be to feel like you belong in a foreign country.”
VAULT Festival, “London’s biggest, boldest and wildest arts and entertainment festival”, runs from 28 January to 22 March 2020. In addition to Living Here?, it features an eclectic selection of productions including little told true story of slavery Sold, clowning exploration of hanging onto your own identity as a parent, Cara Vita: A Clown Concerto and Kafka-inspired tale of otherness Red Peter.
Watch the Living Here? trailer
