ENGINE RESIDENCY | SPRING 2017 & 2018

MARCH 28, 12 PM | PERFORMANCE | Main Library, 501 COPPER NW

MARCH 29, 1-5 PM | WORKSHOP: One Singing Day

MARCH 29, 7-8:30 PM | BREAD & SONG | q-staff Theatre, 400 Broadway SE

MARCH 30, 2-3:15 PM | Talk & Work Demonstration | UNM, Center for the Arts, B417

MARCH 31, 8 PM | PERFORMANCE Un día más sobre la Tierra | The National Hispanic Cultural Center

PERFORMANCE Un día más sobre la Tierra

Engine is a concert of violent and sophisticated guitars, overlapped by the raw voices of three actor-musicians. The songs woven by Latino-American rhythms and rock dynamics, punched by simple and powerful theatrical ruptures, poetically tells the story of an ancient device floating unseen over the skies of the world. The elegant protagonists sing without stopping, dance scandalously, and throw themselves on the floor with attractive complicity. ENGINE, the always invisible machine, carries the rhythm of the concert. They evoke it with their songs, and if the machine appears, they might remember something special. If not, it will have been a great waste of vital forces and people will wonder: how can only a couple of people make such a sublime mess?

ONE SINGING DAY | AN ENCOUNTER THROUGH SONGS

Come sing and dance in a collective a capella singing day. The situation is very simple: people dancing and singing together old traditional songs from Latin America.

The encounter will be led by Alejandro Tomás Rodriguez assisted by Robin Gentien and Pierre Lauth-Karson (ENGINE).InOne Singing Day, participants will explore the living dynamics that emerge from singing and the interaction between individuals.This way of approaching singing and discovering the potentialities of interaction is grounded on the basic elements of the actor’s craft: physical action, reactions, personal associations, and repetition.

Part of the workshop will be dedicated to physical work: exercises of synchronization and reaction contained within a structure that unfolds through different rhythms.

BIOS:

ALEJANDRO TOMÁS RODRIGUEZ is an Argentinian actor with a degree in Art Theory. He was a core member of the Open Program Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards directed by Mario Biagini. He has taught at various prestigious universities in Europe, the Americas, and Asia such as Stanford University, Yale University, York University, the Shangai Theater Academy, the A.R.T.A, New York University, the University of Toronto, and the Théâtre National de Bretagne. He played a key role in the creation of the Open Program performances: I am America, Electric Party Songs, Not History’s Bones – a Poetry Concert, The Nightwatch, and The Hidden Sayings. He is also the director of the theatre company Casa Talcahuano in Buenos Aires. Actor, singer and self-taught guitarist, he developed his musical work based on his great stage experience.

ROBIN GENTIEN is a Parisian musician. He holds a degree in philosophy.He was the leader and composer of a number of funk bands in Paris and also played for various African musicians such as Fatou Yakar (Senegal) and Ousmane Kalil Kouyate (Guinea). In Paris, he is also a member of the blues duo Robespierre, alongside the singer and harmonicist Pierre Lauth-Karson. Robin is a skillful guitarist who blends groove, blues, Latin rhythms, and West African colors. When he joined the Wokcenter in Italy in 2012, he started a fruitful collaboration with Alejandro within the Worcenter’s performances, which they toured around the world for over four years. This artistic complicity then started developing beyond the frame of the Workcenter, giving birth to ENGINE.

PIERRE LAUTH-KARSON is a Franco-American harmonicist and singer with a degree in audiovisual translation. He learnt harmonica alongside such musicians as Greg Zlap, Pascal « Baco » Mikaelian or Sébastien Charlier. In Paris, he plays for African musicians like Fatou Yakar and Ousmane Kalil Kouyate with Robin Gentien. He also plays with the French songwriter and singer Adrien Regard and is a member of the gospel choir The Voice of Freedom as singer and harmonicist. Despite of his blues roots, Pierre enjoys blending his harmonica with various musical styles.After sharing the stage with Robin in many projects, especially the blues duo Robespierre, he took part in various concerts of the ENGINE WINTER ROAD tour. In November 2016, he joined ENGINE in Buenos Aires.