January 10, 2008
Dance work about the Vietnam War to be featured in concert at Meany
French-Vietnamese choreographer Ea Sola and her dancers will perform at Meany Hall next week as part of the UW World Dance Series. Since 1995 Ea Sola has been creating dance works that have explored the experiences, memories, and identities of the people who fought and lived through the horrors of the Vietnam War. In Drought and Rain, Vol. 2, the company of 13 dancers and six musicians from the National Ballet of Vietnam-Hanoi continues that exploration, examining how the memory of war travels across generations.
Ea Sola grew up in the south of Vietnam during the years of the Vietnam War. She left Vietnam in 1974, eventually arriving in Paris in 1978. Between 1978 and 1989, Ea Sola studied classical theater, created underground “happenings,” worked with Grotowski’s dance theatre group, and founded her own ensemble to develop works exploring the theme “states of the body,” in collaboration with the magazine Diagonal.
In 1989, Ea Sola returned to Vietnam and began the research that resulted in five productions using non-professional dance artists: Drought and Rain (1995); Once upon a time it was (1997); La Riziere des musiques (1998); Voila Voila (1999); and Requiem (2000). These productions toured throughout Europe, America and Asia. With the creation of Drought and Rain Vol. 2 (2005), Ea Sola embarks on a new cycle of work.
On Tuesday, Jan. 15, Ea Sola will discuss her creative process and the work Drought and Rain Vol. 2 at 6 p.m. at Henry Art Gallery Auditorium. The Dancer’s Dialogue is free and open to the public.
Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Jan. 17, 18, and 19. Tickets are $40 ($20 for students) and may be purchased by phone at 206-543-4880, online at http://www.uwworldseries.org/, or in person at the UW Arts Ticket Office.
Concert ticket holders are invited to come early to learn more about Ea Sola and the dance company at a free pre-show lecture. The lecture begins at 7:15 p.m. in the Meany Hall west lobby and lasts about 30 minutes. After the performance, audience members are invited to stay in the auditorium for a question-and-answer session with Ea Sola.
