Julie Bour, Fall 2011 Artist in Residence

Wayne State University’s Maggie Allesee Department of Dance welcomes Julie Bour, October 24–31, 2011, as Fall 2011 Allesee Artist in Residence. Wayne State dancers will present an informance, a demo of the choreography they’ve learned from Bour, on Monday, October 31, at 12:30pm in the Maggie Allesee Studio Theatre, 3317 Old Main Building. This is a free event and seating is limited so please arrive fifteen minutes early.

Bour is artistic director of Compagnie Julie Bour, an international, multi-cultural entity, relying strongly on the networks, experience and bridges provided by The Flying Mammoth, founded by Bour and Loic Noisette in 2006 as a bridge between the different arts, cultures and countries they have encountered over the course of their careers. The combination of energies, cultures and identities within and around Compagnie Julie Bour translate into a unique array of collaborations and interactions – and a unique voice. Motivated and inspired by her accumulated experience as a performer, teacher and assistant director around the world, Bour began her own choreographic work in 2006. Since then, she has created original works presented at New York City’s Dance New Amsterdam Theater, City Center’s Studio, Steps on Broadway, Florence Gould Theater, LaGuardia Performance Arts Theater, New York University’s Skirball Theater, Ambient Art Projects Gallery in Las Vegas and in the festival Cadences in Arcachon, France, where she was appointed “fil rouge” of the festival.

As a dancer, after graduating from the Conservatoire National de Paris, Bour’s career brought her to work with a variety of renowned choreographers around the world including Angelin Preljocaj, Inbal Pinto and Cave Canem Company. As assistant to the French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, Bour restaged his repertory in New York City and Bordeaux, France. She also had the pleasure to work with the director Julie Taymor on the Opera Grendel. She received a Bessie Award for “Best Performer of the Year” in New York City. Bour will be collaborating with world-renowned videographer, Gilles Papain.

While deeply conscious of her experiences and influences, Bour doesn’t feel bound by a style, a history or a technique. As a choreographer, she is driven by the need to question, mix and share. By exploring the dynamics of contemporary culture through the prism of who she is now – on any particular day – she creates work which resonates in the cultural moment. The key to Bour’s creative process is to work consistently with dancers who are committed to movement invention and to develop a technique and language over time. The unorthodoxy and internationality of both her professional and personal paths are strongly present in her choreographic process.