LA RIBOT: MORE DISTINGUISHED PIECES 97 Oct 31, 7pm Nov 1, 7pm Louhisali Espoo Cultural Centre Concept and performance - La Ribot The Spanish dance artist La Ribot, trained in classical and modern, as well as contemporary dance, begun her career as a choreographer in Madrid in the mid-80s. In 1986, she and Maria Calvo founded the company Bocanada, which played an important role as one of the groundbreaking innovators in the art of mise-en-scene in the tumultuous 1980s. The company served as the breeding ground for many renowned dancers from Madrid, and received international choreography awards for the works of Calvo and Ribot. The two parted ways in 1989, and La Ribot launched into a new phase in her work as a student of dance; she expanded her means of expression into the direction of other art forms. In 1993 La Ribot started work on the project Piezas Distinguidas, a series of short solos lasting between thirty seconds and a few minutes, with the intention of creating a hundred of these in all. So far she has finished 26 pieces, which she has performed in two series: 13 Piezas Distinguidas (13 Distinguished Pieces 1993/94) and Mas Distinguidas (More Distinguished Pieces 1997). The latter series was finished in London, where she has lived since 1997. La Ribot is interested in the relation of motion and the idea created by it. Her work is based on the visual idea of coaxing the body into delicate motion; the body in itself together with the internal motion. Piezas is a series of short, sharp flashes, blurring the boundaries between the performing, visual and performance arts. However, La Ribot's absurd, mean, gentle and confusingly charming Peter Pan-esque flight is always rooted in dance. In the solo piece More Distinguished Pieces, La Ribot's naked body is a canvas onto which ideas, movements, objects, music and obsessions are affixed. For her, nudity does not raise a question of sexuality. It is a neutral and pure form, devoid of meaning. An individual solo piece may be a motional poem, a tableau vivant, a mental choreography or a painting waiting to dry. From the outset, the objective of the Piezas Distinguidas project has been to produce and to sell the solo pieces as if they were works of conceptual or visual art. Each individually named solo piece has been for sale after the performance, and after the sale, the name of the "distinguished proprietor" will be mentioned after the name of the piece on the bill, e.g. Divana/Distinguished Proprietor De Hexe Mathilde Monnier. The proprietor can then attend any subsequent performance of the piece without charge, wherever it is being performed. La Ribot received the Peter Hamilton Foundation award for remarkable visual artist in 1998. In 1999, Mas Distinguidas won the Mimos de la critique in Perigueux award. <<<