Carolyn Carlson Choreography... the Musée d’Orsay

Carolyn Carlson presents a project in her own image, combining poetry of words and action, energy of movement, spirituality and fantasy, and drawing inspiration from her beloved countries – from the Finland of her ancestors to the France in which she built her life and career, by way of the Japan she admires so much. For the occasion, she will be accompanied by 4 dancers from her company and faithful to her world, Sara Orselli, Céline Maufroid, Juha Marsalo and Yutaka Nakata, the cellist Pierre le Bourgeois and, as guests of honor, the Finnish “screaming choir” Mieskuoro Huutajat and Hugo Marchand, the Paris Opera’s principal dancer, who will be performing a solo that Carolyn Carson created especially for him and which has never before been presented to the public.

Carolyn Carlson prefers to refer to her work as “visual poetry” rather than “choreography”. Images are at the heart of her creations and the visual arts are a constant source of inspiration. This relationships with graphic works explains why she has created several pieces in her repertoire in conversation with Mark Rothko (Man in a Room in 2000 and Dialogue with Rothko in 2013), Joseph Beuys, to whom she dedicated a piece in 2001, Giotto for a solo created in 2002, and Olivier Debré when she created Signs in 1997 for the Paris Opera.

So it comes as no surprise that the choreographer has long maintained special relationships with museums. In 2010, she even created a large-format cycle intended for performance and reinvention in museums, galleries and heritage sites, Mundus Imaginalis¹, inspired by such great painters as Warhol, Magritte, Van Gogh and Picasso and expressing paintings, sculptures, videos, contemporary installations and architectures in bodily movement.

For her, such venues are ideal places for developing and showing her work, which is deeply connected with space and form.

Several major Parisian institutions have already put their trust in her and given her carte blanche.

The artists

• Carolyn Carlson, Artistic direction, choreographies, improvisation and poems
• Hugo Marchand, performer;
• Céline Maufroid, performer;
• Sara Orselli, performer;
• Juha Marsalo, performer;
• Yutaka Nakata, performer;
• Mieskuoro Huutajat, choir;
• Pierre Le Bourgeois, cello;
• Johann Johannsson, additional music
• Aleksi Aubry-Carlson, additional music