chameckilerner

Rosane Chamecki and Andrea Lerner
Born 1964 and 1966, live and work in New York







New York-based Brazilians Rosane Chamecki and Andrea Lerner constitute the acclaimed choreographic duo ChameckiLerner which has been presenting remarkable dance performances for the past 15 years. They are known for choreography that is at once cerebral and intricately physical, and that oftentimes explores ever-shifting relationships between people, including questions of power, eroticism, bewilderment, tenderness, and violence. Their last full-length piece was called Exit (2007), and it purported to be a farewell to ChameckiLerner altogether, including reconstituted excerpts from past performances, video commentary from dance professionals and board members, and a “suicide note” printed in the evening’s brochure. At once elegiac and hopeful, sorrowful and hilarious, Exit was among the most riveting dance performances presented in New York in recent years.

Part of this performance featured a magical, captivating, and frankly tear-inducing film Flying Lesson (presented as a projected video). In the film, two women (Chamecki and Lerner, it turns out) wearing ersatz angels’ wings, repeatedly, and futilely, jump up and try to take flight, while chanting “Unos, dos, tres!” With whimsical music, and rickety wings such as a child might wear at a costume party, the whole scene is willfully cheesy and comical, until, that is, the two women are suddenly aloft, miraculously flying down an exterior corridor and out into the brilliant sunlight. This startling flight (actually accomplished by meticulous film editing) becomes a wonderful expression of human restrictions and aspirations, doubt and hope. Flying Lesson is presented in Carnival Within, where it functions as a logic-defying marvel, an aerial acrobatic act that inspires amazement and rapt joy.

 

Choreographies | Films | Bibliography

Choreographies:
2007: Exit, The Kitchen, New York
2005: Costumes by God, Dance Theater Workshop, New York
2004: Passerby, University of Illinois, Urbana/IL

Films:
2007/08: Flying Lesson, premièred at 36th Dance on Camera Festival, Lincoln Center, New York (Jury Award); Brooklyn International Film Festival, New York (Best Experimental Film Award); WNET Channel 13 Broadcast, New York

Bibliography:
Claudia La Rocco, “A Choreographic Duo Take a Final Bow,” in The New York Times, May 3, 2007
Gia Kourlas, “Suicide is Painless,” in Time Out New York, no. 604, April 26 – May 2, 2007
Deborah Jowitt, “DVD Suicide Note and an Exit,” in Village Voice, May 8, 2007


Bibliografie:
Claudia La Rocco, „A Choreographic Duo Take a Final Bow“. In: The New York Times, 3. Mai 2007
Gia Kourlas, „Suicide is Painless“. In: Time Out New York, Nr. 604, 26. April –2. Mai 2007
Deborah Jowitt, „DVD Suicide Note and an Exit“. In: Village Voice, 8. Mai 2007