French choreographer recruits twins

“How About You?” the title of the third in Blanchard’s trilogy, will be presented on Friday, Feb. 15 and Saturday, Feb. 16 at the N4th Theater. It is the first of two consecutive weekends of “JOURNEYS,” a celebration of contemporary dance.

This third work is an artistic attempt to understand oneself through self-reflection and the mirror reflection in another, whom Blanchard referred to as “the other.” Consequently, there are only two dancers in the piece, and it is not coincidental that the dancers are identical twins, brothers Gabriele and Luca Stifani.

Blanchard said in a phone interview that the Stifani brothers were not performers when he met them about five years ago. “They were filmmakers and video artists,” he said.

He met them through a project all three were working on; the brothers were making a video archive. Blanchard said they got along well.

“When I was thinking about performers (for this piece), I met a lot of different people. … The original idea was also dealing with gender but I couldn’t find the right performers. Then somebody suggested the twins,” Blanchard said.

“I said, ‘What twins?’ They said, ‘The guys you met two years back.’ I hadn’t given a thought to working with untrained performers.”

Blanchard told the Stifani twins he wanted to see if they could perform the work. The brothers reacted with shock and surprise and asked for a few days to think about the offer.

“They came back and asked, ‘Who are the other performers?’ I said ‘There are no other performers, just the two of you.’ A long silence followed and they wanted another 24 hours to think about,” Blanchard said.

Their answer was “yes.” Blanchard worked with them and soon concluded that “these guys are pure, natural performers. I was extremely lucky to find them.”

“How About You?” premiered in Stockholm in 2009 and has been on tour since. Blanchard said it is an hourlong work of contemporary dance. There is no set but there are props on a stage he considers a landscape. The two dancers wear simple, identical street wear.

The music is by composer Philippe Boix-Vives and sound designer Peter Connelly, who has a film background, Blanchard said.

The work is a production of Blanchard’s company ADEKWHAT.

The first two works in the trilogy were “One’s company, two’s a crowd,” which deals with social codes, and “Bits of Bob’s life,” which is about home.

“Identity is such an enormous subject. I’ve just started digging,” he said.

For the second weekend, Feb. 22 and Feb. 23, “JOURNEYS” will present Nora Chipaumire’s work “Miriam.”

There were multiple sources of inspiration for the work. They include Chipaumire’s upbringing in Zimbabwe, her self-exile in the United States, her self-discovery as an artist as well as the life of South African singer Miriam Makeba, the iconography of Mary, and the writings of Joseph Conrad and Zimbabwean novelist Chenjeral Hove.

Chipaumire and Okwui Okpokwasili will perform the work.

Hakim Bellamy, Albuquerque’s poet laureate, leads pre-performance and post-performance discussions with the artists.

Philippe Blanchard’s “How About You?” will be staged at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15 and Saturday, Feb. 16. Nora Chipaumire’s “Miriam” will be staged at 7 p.m. Feb. 22 and Feb. 23.

All performances are at the N4th Theater in the North Fourth Art Center, 4904 Fourth NW.

Tickets are $15 general public, $10 students and seniors and are available in advance by visiting www.vsartsnm.org, by calling 344-4542.