Carolyn Carlson (born in 1943)

Major partners of the Paris Opera’s 350th anniversary

Major partners of
the Paris Opera’s 350th anniversary

A suivre:

Abbé Perrin (Director of...

Directors, ballet masters, stage directors, choreographers, architects... Octave discovers the personalities that have marked the history of the Opera which continues to attract the great names of music and dance.

Carolyn Carlson was born in Oakland, California, to parents of Finnish origin and studied classical dance at the San Francisco Ballet as well as philosophy and theatre at the University of Utah. In 1965 she joined the Nikolaïs Dance Theatre and for seven years participated in Alwin Nikolaïs’ experimental research while creating her own choreographic works. In 1968, she won the Best Dancer award at the 6th International Dance Festival in Paris. She settled in France in 1971 and the following year she presented the highly acclaimed Rituel pour un rêve mort at the Avignon Festival. Made an Étoile-choreographer by Rolf Liebermann in 1974, she headed the Paris Opera’s Theatre Research Group (GRTOP) until 1980 and created several works during her tenure there, including Density 21,5 (1973), Il y a juste un instant, Sablier Prison (1974), Wind, Water, Sand (1976), This, That and the Other (1977), Writings in the Wall (filmed performance, 1979) and Slow, Heavy and Blue (1980). She then created Don't Look Back (1994) and Signes for the Company in close collaboration with the painter Olivier Debré (1997). In 1999, Carolyn Carlson created the Atelier de Paris on the site of the Cartoucherie, an old munitions depot which quickly became a reference in the field of professional training. She remains its honorary president today. In 2004, she was made artistic director of the Centre Chorégraphique National de Roubaix Nord - Pas de Calais, a position she retained until 2013. The Carolyn Carlson Company was in residence at the Théâtre National de Chaillot from 2015 to 2017 and it produces and distributes its productions all around the world.