Vendetta Mathea, the choreographer
Vendetta
Mathea is a dancer, choreographer, teacher and visual artist.
Franco-American, she was trained at the Juilliard School of Music in New York,
specialised in movement at the National Endowment for the Arts and is a
member of the french Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers.
Vendetta Mathea
training in dance and music in Detroit (Michigan) as part of the "Dance
Power" programme with Manuel Alum, Merce Cunningham, José Limon and Arthur Mitchell, at the
University of Detroit with Lisa Novac, then in New York at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre,
the Dance Theatre of Harlem with Mary Barnett and at the Juilliard School of Music with Alfredo Corvino and Kazuko Hirabayashi. She
also trained with a number of teachers such as Louis Falco, Finis Jhung, Jennifer Muller, Walter Raines and Clay Taliaferro.
From 1971, Vendetta Mathea began a career as a performer with the Walter Nicks Dance Company for the American Dance Festival at Connecticut College. A
founder member of the company, she was Walter Nicks soloist for
ten years. She also worked with a number of choreographers, including
Vanoye Aikens, Mary Barnett, Katherine Dunham, Garth Fagan, Clifford
Fears, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Lukas Hoving, Shamus Murphy, Eleo Pomare, Paul Taylor, Morton
Winston, Yuriko, etc.
During the
decade, she travelled the world with the companies of Garth Fagan,
Clifford Fears, Katherine Dunham, Morton Winston, Walter Nicks, Eleo
Pomare and Kazuko Hirabayashi and danced with, among others, the
Contemporary Chamber Dance Group, the Capoeira of Bahia and the
Harlem Opera Society. Her tremendous stage qualities brought her
recognition from the specialist press during the Delacorte Dance Festival
in New York: "
The solo by Vendetta Mathea - very, very good indeed, the
kind of material that company showstoppers are made of." - 1976 - Dance Magazine.
From 1979,
Vendetta Mathea devised and performed her own solo pieces. "
She has
gone solo after having danced with the biggest companies. She can succeed
in this adventure: she has so many ways of speaking, expressing and
dancing. She has her own style. She can perform in ways that no one before
her has achieved... She offers us her determination, joy and belief like
an adventurous poet." - Amélie Grand - Février pour la Dance -
1982 - Avignon.
Accompanied by
musicians Jean-Claude Kérinec and Staff El
Meddah, she danced at the main festivals in France and Europe.
"
Vendetta Mathea is the pleasure of dancing." - Chateauvallon
Centre - Nice-Matin. "
Vendetta Mathea is one of the most prominent
personalities in the dance world. She is imbued with it, she embodies it.
With modesty and simplicity ... Vendetta Mathea controls space, transforms
and enhances it by her very presence." - Avignon Festival - Vaucluse
Matin.
After several
seasons as a solo artist, Vendetta Mathea set up her own company in 1981 in France,
which moved to Aurillac France in 1985.
Vendetta Mathea
has devised some fifty choreographic works. Some of these have been
performed many times worldwide.
"
Vendetta Mathea has always broken down
the barriers between the different modes of choreographic expression."
- Le Berry Républicain. "
... classicism and avant-gardism ...". Le
Républicain Lorrain.
At the heart of the struggle for civil rights at the start of her career,
Vendetta Mathea's creations use human nature as a recurrent theme. They
are built around an abstraction, an improvised movement that carries its
own thought or emotion; she uses her feelings in the same way in which she
composes her paintings.
From 1993 to 1996, Vendetta Mathea researched the
theme "gestural modernity and musical tradition" with the help of fifty
dancers, singers, musicians and visual artists of all kinds. This led to
the creation of three pieces.
"
When a new, magnificent, powerful
essence springs up from the interwoven roots of music and dance from here
and elsewhere, 'Colors de Vida' crystallises an unprecedented revelation." - Christine Lebas - La Montagne -
1994
Pursuing the
research she had begun in 2001 into the "mechanics of beginning" and its
perpetual cycle, Vendetta Mathea created a piece in 2003 entitled "Women"
using a score by Bill Kleinsmith. A summary of much of her previous work,
the piece is listed among the great works of modern dance.
In 2007, she
presented "Le Temps Avance".
"
The fluidity of movement in modern art
dissolves into the agility of the staging, which is focused on the eternal
question "who are we?" and the mystery of our relationship with other
people and the cosmos. Against a background of world music in osmosis,
often pierced by cries, this dazzling, enchanting performance continually
weaves captivating, poignant emotions." Christine Lebas - La Montagne - 2007
In 2008, Vendetta Mathea
presented "Quand
j'étais humain"
...
Vendetta Mathea's choreography in "Quand j'étais humain" expresses the
interior nature of being. Every movement is justified; its sensitive
content reaches out to the audience and remains compatible with
virtuosity. Movement is spontaneous and technically superb, the references
are there, the roots and sources create an authentic, profound, very pure
style. We are moved by a dance that is formal, concentrated, enthusiastic
and dazzling. A broad range of expression sways between rigour and
freedom. The technical quality of the dancers and the choreographic
design leave us constantly surprised and confronted with the unexpected." Nicole Guerber Walsh – University of Paris - 2008
In 2009,
following a residence at Centre Choregraphique La Manufacture, Vendetta Mathea presented a new
piece with a new group of dancers and artists.
A performance that speaks to body and soul - ... the grace of the
score created for them by Vendetta Mathea, which is made up of profoundly
incarnate movements, some violent, others elegant, written and danced on
eggshells. Each segment of the three bodies gives an account of this
questioning that stirs us: between man and animal, what do we want to be?
Through this performance we feel ourselves being gently guided towards the
paths of equilibrium ... we are left wanting to take flight" Anne-Marie Goulay - AVIGnews.com - July 2009 - "
The work of
Franco-American choreographer Vendetta Mathea examines our view of human nature by trying to seize
that vital part, that animality that makes us human. The dancers
give everything they've got, portraying this unusual, wild, poetic
universe. Homme|Animal is a powerful show that gets right into our flesh."
Stephen Pisani - Arte - Juillet 2009
A superbly danced
production – we must keep an eye on Surya Berthomieux – that strives to be
understood by the public and that believes in the honest message of dance!
Homme Animal has an invigorating,
timeless freshness."
Philippe Verrièle - Dancer - October 2009
In July and August 2013, Vendetta Mathea presented her latest work intiltled "Water Soul" at the Avignon Festival, the Festival International d'Aurillac and at the New York Downtown Dance Festival.
What is particularly interesting about Mathea’s work is her unique ability to express such a range of responses through this common vocabulary while still providing a subtle and socially relevant commentary of modern French society from an American point of view. Her double vision made for a refreshing experience that really stood out at the Downtown Dance Festival
Alexandra Pinel -
[DIY dancer] - New York -
16 août 2013
An
internationally known teacher, Vendetta Mathea has been a guest at the
great dance courses (American Dance Festival Outreach Program,
International Sommer Akademie Köln, Stage International de Lausanne,
International Dance Workshop of Vienna, Bishop University - Quebec,
etc.) and has been teaching in France since 1976.
Confronted
throughout her career with the leading currents and inspired by the great
variety of approaches, Vendetta Mathea has developed a technique that is based on a mastery of the basics of movement, the search
for meaning and the awakening of the senses. With its many languages,
ancient knowledge and techniques, supplemented by years of practising Tai
Chi and the martial arts, Vendetta Mathea's work is profoundly authentic
and focused on energy. It constructs the dancer as an artist, supporting
his ability as a performer, his personal fulfilment and his capacity to
carry a specific artistic and cultural project.
As a choreographer and visual artist, she examines human nature and
emotions from one work to another in a study that has inspired her life,
even outside her artistic creation.
More info on www.vendettamatheaco.org
