Frédéric Flamand (born 1946 in Brussels) is a Belgian actor, director, and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

Biography

Flamand founded the Plan K

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in ...

company in 1973. From 1979, it occupied a former sugar refinery in

Molenbeek ( French, ) or (Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated ...

. He was interested in

interdisciplinary work Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

and hosted artists such as Bob Wilson, William S. Burroughs,

Steve Lacy Steve Lacy may refer to: Music * Steve Lacy (saxophonist) (1934–2004), American jazz saxophonist and composer * Steve Lacy (singer) (born 1998), American musician Other occupations *Steve Lacy (coach) (1908–2000), American college sports coach ...

, Decouflé, Marie Chouinard, Joy Division, and the

Eurythmics Eurythmics were a British pop duo consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. They were both previously in The Tourists, a band which broke up in 1980. The duo released their first studio album, '' In the Garden'', in 1981 to little succ ...

. As director and choreographer, Flamand worked with many architects, including Fabrizio Plessi, Elizabeth Diller,

Ricardo Scofidio Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portugu ...

, Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel, Thom Mayne, and more recently, Dominique Perrault and the

Campana brothers The Campana Brothers, consisting of Humberto Campana (born 1953) and Fernando Campana (1961–2022) are Brazilian furniture designers. They stated that Lina Bo Bardi and Oscar Niemeyer were some of the big names who had a concrete influence on t ...

, working to connect the dancer's body to the surrounding architecture. Flamand was appointed head of the former Royal Ballet of Wallonia in 1991 and renamed the company Charleroi / Danses. It became the first contemporary dance company in Belgium, and Flamand made the company well-known in Belgium and internationally. On February 28, 1998,

Maurice Bejart Maurice may refer to: People *Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr *Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and Lo ...

was condemned by the Belgian courts for his choreography of ''Presbytery'', which plagiarized an extract from Flamand's 1989 "The Fall of Icarus''"''. The work has a winged dancer crossing the stage wearing video monitors as shoes. In September 2004, Flamand was appointed manager of the

Ballet National de Marseille The Ballet National de Marseille is a dance company based in Marseille, France. The company combines modern dance and classical ballet. Overview The Ballet National de Marseille was founded by the dancer and choreographer Roland Petit in 1972. T ...

and the Marseille National School of Dance. Eric Vu-An has been his assistant since 2005. He was appointed the artistic director of the International Dance Festival of Cannes for the years 2011-2013.

Selected works

;With Theatre Laboratoire Vicinal 1972: "Lunapark" and "Tramp" (went on tour and performed at

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan's East Village, the theatre began in the ...

in New York City) ;With Plan K 1980: "Quarantine" 1984: "Scan Lines" 1987: "If Pyramids Were Square" 1989: "The Fall of Icarus" with Fabrizio Plessi ;With Charleroi / Danses 1992: "Titanic" with Fabrizio Plessi 1994: "Ex Machina" with Fabrizio Plessi 1994: "Hull and Machinery" 1996: "Speed and Memory" 1996: "Moving Target" with Elizabeth Diller and

1998: "EJM 1 and 2" 'with Elizabeth Diller and

1998: "Gender" 2000: "Metapolis" with Zaha Hadid 2000: "The Future of Work" with Jean Nouvel 2001: "Body / Work / Leisure" with Jean Nouvel 2003: "Silent Collisions" with Thom Mayne 2005: "Eight" in collaboration with Marion Ballester ;With the Ballet National de Marseille 2005: "The Radiant City" with Dominique Perrault 2006: "Metapolis II" with Zaha Hadid 2007: "Metamorphosis" with Humberto and Fernando Campana 2009: "The Trouble of Narcissus" 2010: "The Truth 25 times a second" with Ai Weiwei

References

External links

*Frédéric Flamand interviewed by Susanne Franco. L'Epos. Palermo, 2004.
Flamand's page on La MaMa Archives Digital Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flamand, Frederic 1946 births Living people Male actors from Brussels Belgian male actors Belgian male dancers Belgian choreographers Belgian theatre directors