Bitef

43

SUTRA, derived from sutta in Pali, is used to denote any of the sermons or scriptural narratives of Buddha. It strikes a chord with Larbi, who has persistently sought a deeper morality through almost his entire body of work, often dissecting religious archetypes inpieces like the recent Myth. It has other appropriate connotations too. In Hinduism, sutra laid down guidelines for the conduct of life. The word in Sanskrit also means string, or'measure of straightness', all of which resonate with Larbi's own quests.

Karthika Nair

SIDI LARBI CHERKAOUI DIRECTOR, CHOREOGRAPHER AND DANCER Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's debut as a choreographer was in 1999 with Andrew Wale's 'contemporary musical 'Anonymous Society. Since then, he has made more than fifteen full-fledged choreographic pieces and picked up a slew of awards including the Fringe First Award, the Total Theatre Award in Edinburgh and the Barclays Theatre Award in London, the Special Prize at the BITEF Festival in Belgrade and the Most Promising Choreographer Prize at the Nijinski Awards in Monte Carlo, the Movimentos Award in Germany, and the Helpmann Award from Australia in 2007. In August 2008, Ballet Tanz awarded him the title of Choreographer of the Year for his work across the 2007-2008 season: Myth, Apocrifu, Origine and Sutra. The Alfred Toëpfer Stiftung has awarded its 2009 Kairos Prize to him in recognition of his artistic philosophy and his quest for cultural dialogue. While Cherkaoui's initial pieces were made as a core member of the Belgian collective Les Ballets C. de la B. - Rien de rien (2000), Foi{ 2oo3), Tempos Fugit (2004) - he also undertook parallel projects that both expanded and consolidated his artistic vision. Ook (2000) was born from a workshop for mentally disabled actors held by Theater Stap in Turnhout with choreographer Nienke Reehorst; D'avant (2002) from an encounter with long-standing artistic partner Damien Jalet and dancer-singers of the Sasha Waltz & Guests company, and zero degrees (2005) with friend and fellow-choreographer Akram Khan. He has worked with a variety of theatres, opera houses and ballet companies, ranging from Sadler's Wells in London (Sutra, 2008), Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels (Apocrifu, 2007), the Royal Danish Ballet [L'homme du bois, 2007), Ballets Cullberg in Stockholm (End, 2006), Monte Carlo Ballets ( Mea culpa, 2006, and In memoriam, 2004) and the Grand Théâtre in Geneva [Loin, 2005). But Cherkaoui's base since 2006 has been in Antwerp, where he is associate artist at HetToneelhuis, the theatre that produced Myth (2007) and Origine (2008). Eastman, his future company, will throw anchor in the same port city, with the making of its first piece Babel in 2010,

SUTRA