For Immediate Release
Contact: Walter Zooi
213-503-2300

Déjà Donné Present the Los Angeles Premiere of In Bella Copia at REDCAT

December 3-7
8:30 p.m.
$34 - $36

Los Angeles, November 14 - Déjà Donné, the widely celebrated, pan-European and Asian dance troupe, will present the Los Angeles premiere of In Bella Copia ("Fair Copy") at REDCAT - the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater - CalArts' new performance venue and gallery in Walt Disney Concert Hall. Performances begin at 8:30 p.m. each of the 5 evenings of the run. Tickets range from $34 to $ $36 for general admission seating. Tickets may be purchased at the REDCAT box office located at the corner of 2nd and Hope streets, calling 213-237-2800 or by clicking here.

Déjà Donné, describe In Bella Copia as "a battle, complete with vice, egoism, and private aggression." Directed and choreographed by Lenka Flory and Simone Sandroni, the piece is staged as a spectacle that works in contrasts: the stage changes to the backstage, light changes to shadow, intimacy into exhibition, power into powerlessness. With references to classic Hollywood and contemporary fashion photography, In Bella Copia also explores the juxtaposition between public and private lives and between reality and its alluring rose- colored version. The piece has toured throughout Europe, the U.S. and Canada and received Best Dance of the Year Award, Prague / Czech Republic.

Comprised of members from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Belgium, France and Japan, Déjà Donné, was founded in 1996 in Prague by Simone Sandroni and Lenka Flory. Since its founding, the troupe has repeatedly toured Europe, the U.S., Canada and Asia. They have received many awards, including this year's Total Theatre Award presented in Edinburgh.

REDCAT, a technologically advanced black box performance space, 3,000 sq. ft. art gallery and lounge located within Walt Disney Concert Hall complex in downtown Los Angeles, is a natural extension of CalArts, an institution that has been long known for challenging artistic traditions and enabling young artists to learn from--but also to question--some of the world's top practitioners in each artistic discipline. This same spirit of heightened cultural and civic discourse is what brings REDCAT to life. In Bella Copia, you are laughing and aching at the same time. Brilliantly interlocking duets are studded with split-second stillnesses, during which the dancers dare each other to escalate pleasure or pain. Each character undergoes a drastic transformation that leaves the audience reeling, but with the possibility for exhilaration too."

Wendy Perron, The Village Voice May 2003

"Déjà Donné's, In Bella Copia resonates like thick black smoke against a clear blue sky. Featuring pleasure, violence, compassion, hatred, and humility, it plumbs the depths of emotion played out on a stage with its back open to the audience."

Gay City 11.4. 2003

"With the agitated nature of dancing and the extremeness of the interactions onstage, In Bella Copia could have the effect of keeping one awake far into the night."

Wendy Perron, The New York Times 30. 3. 03

"Clothes Can Be Flung Off, but Anxieties Still Remain. Déjà Donné,, an experimental dance troupe founded in Prague in 1996, shot Dance Theater Workshop's new international season, World Wide Works, off to a cannonball start."

Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times 9. 4. 03

"I think that the sincerity and humanity that underlies this work (and other work I've seen by this company) is defining. Their theater is a fluent hybrid of modes, languages, styles. But at the base it's really, really truthful. They took their initial premise to its full conclusion - sexy but also ugly and humbling - and were generous enough to put it on stage."

Karin Keithely, Offoffoff.com. The Guide to alternative New York 9. 4. 03

In Bella Copia Production Credits

Choreography and direction:
Lenka Flory, Simone Sandroni

Creation and interpretation:
Jan Benes / Czech Republic
Lea Capkova / Czech Republic
Masako Noguchi / Japan
Teodora Popova / Bulgaria
Simone Sandroni / Italy
Ondrej Vajsar / Czech Republic

Music dramaturgy: Gaetan van den Berg

Music: Bruno de Franceschi

Design: Lenka Flory, Simone Sandroni

Costumes: Lenka Flory

Light design and light technique: Vincent Longuemare / France

Stage and sound technique: Robert Stepanek / Czech Republic

Graphics: Pavel Skoda / Czech Republic

Photographs: Dragan Dragin / Yugoslavia

Produced by:
Déjà Donné,, Jana Horcickova / Czech Republic

Co-produced by:
Luzerntanz am Luzernertheater / Switzerland
Stadschouwburg Brugge / Belgium
BRUGGE 2002 / Belgium
Hebbel-Theater Berlin / Germany

Supported by:
Stadschouwburg Haarlem / Holland
Teatro Comunale di Ferrara / Italy
Dance Theatre Workshop New York / USA
City of Prague / Czech Republic
Ministry of Culture / Czech Republic