J’arrive!

U.S. Premiere:
J’arrive!
Created and produced by Marta Carrasco
Directed by Marta Carrasco and Carme Portaceli Performed by Ms. Carrasco and her company

One cannot easily pigeonhole what Marta Carrasco does. Don’t simply call it “dance;” it’s more than that. “Dance theatre” is also too limiting a category, although it is that, too. One journalist coined the phrase “visual cabaret.” That’s closer, but not quite on the mark. “Performance art” is too lame a description. Perhaps it can best be described as “theatre of movement and sensuality.”

Marta Carrasco danced with others for ten years before setting out to pursue her own vision and create her own company. It was the right move. Her career skyrocketed to the heights of dance in Spain, as she won multiple awards, including two Max Awards for the Performing Arts, Theatre Critics of Barcelona Award, Butaca (Theatre-goers) Award, and Catalonia’s National Dance Award in recognition of her career.

Once on her own, Carrasco created award-winning solo pieces, including one in which she portrayed French sculptor Camille Claudel. She subsequently created works for other performers as she transitioned from dance to dance theatre, mostly appearing with them and sometimes not.

As the head of her own company, she has created J’arrive!, simultaneously a new work and a retrospective of sorts. As Ms.Carrasco states, “J’arrive! In French that means: I go. I arrive. I’m arriving. I have been going for ten years. In J’arrive!, you will find out a lot of what’s been said during these ten years, but said from the perspective of today. J’arrive! is the culmination, the end of a cycle, but not an end, because more is on its way. It’s about carrying on.”

In part, the piece addresses themes of obsession and seduction, not inappropriate for a woman celebrated for her legendary beauty and sensuality in addition to her skill.