PIXEL

With sell out performances across the globe, the international phenomenon Pixel takes audiences to a whole new world, where the beautiful artistry of contemporary dance leaps into the digital age – at Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s Theatre for a limited season from 31 August 2016.

A stunning interaction between dance, video, light and the future, Pixel is a work on illusion – combining energy and poetry, fiction and technical achievement, hip hop and circus. Created by French choreographer Mourad Merzouki and digital designers Adrien Mondot and Claire Bardainne of Adrien M / Claire B, Pixel is a show at the crossroads of their artistic universes.

Mourad Merzouki has been a major figure on the hip-hop scene since the early 1990s, as a choreographer he works at the junction of many different disciplines – circus, martial arts, fine arts, video and live music. An award-winning dancer and choreographer, Merzouki is the current director of the National Choreographic Centre of Creteil.

The Adrien M / Claire B Company creates many forms of arts, from stage performances to exhibitions combining digital arts with live performing arts. Their approach puts people at the center of technological challenges, the heart and body image, with specificity as bespoke development of its IT tools. They go looking for a digital living: mobile, artisanal, ephemeral and sensitive.

Pixel is a dance piece that integrates digital elements to the live performance of 11 dancers to create a unique visual experience. The dancers’ moves, inspired by circus and hip-hop, are in perfect synchronisation with the light projections to the point that it becomes impossible to distinguish the physical from the digital world.

“The challenge for the dancers was to find a subtle balance between the disparate world of live dance performance and digital art and technology so that one didn’t overshadow the other,” said Merzouki. “We wanted to start a conversation about the synthesis between digital projection and the real body of the dancer.”

“Pixel offers a tantalising glimpse of the exciting possibilities of interactive performance.” – Kristin Hohenadel (Slate)

Artistic Direction / Choreography: Mourad Merzouki Digital Production: Adrien Monday and Claire Bardainne Music: Armand Amar Assistant Choreographer: Marjorie Hannoteaux Lighting Designer: Yoann Tivoli (assisted by Nicolas Faucheux) Scenography: Benjamin Lebreton Costumes: Pascale Robin (assisted by Marie Grammatico)

PIXEL
Her Majesty’s Theatre, 219 Exhibition Street, Melbourne
Season: 31 August – 4 September 2016
Bookings: www.ticketek.com.au