Art Happens

Koen Augustijnen & Rosalba Torres Guerrero (be / fr)

Koen Augustijnen and Rosalba Torres Guerrero have both been part of the Belgian and international dance landscape for over 20 years. From this shared artistic history, they decided to develop, co-create and co-direct new projects under the artistic name Siamese Cie. ‘Siamese’ means joined, united, fused. They make independent productions that seek to celebrate diversity and plurality and have a preference for crossovers between different genres, cultures, languages and traditions.

Koen Augustijnen (° Mechelen, 1967) studied history at Ghent University and took theatre workshops at the Antwerp Conservatory and with Jan Decorte in Brussels. He also followed dance workshops with Wim Vandekeybus, Caro Lambert, Min Tanaka, Laurie Booth, Suzanne Linke, Francisco Camacho, Christine Quoiraud, Frank van de Ven and David Zambrano. His main training and work experience, however, has been in staging performances as a member of les ballets C de la B. Initially he began as a dancer in performances by Alain Platel, but from 1997-2013 he was one of the dance company’s resident choreographers. Since 2013, he has worked as a freelancer.

 

Rosalba Torres Guerrero (°Geneva, 1974) began her training as a dancer at the Conservatoire de Genève, until she joined the CNDC Esquisse in Angers (France). In 1995-96, she began her professional career with Philippe Decouflé and his company DCA with the crazy creation of Décodex. Attracted by dance theatre, in 1997-98 she joined the company Deutsche Nationaltheater in Weimar (Germany) under the direction of Ismaël Ivo and created Medeamaterial. In 1997, she returned to France and worked with the Keli company on Cinderella otherwise with Indian dancers from South Kerala. In the same year, she embarked on a 9-year adventure with Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s Rosas company for the creations of the now famous Drumming and Rain, to music by Steve Reich, I said I, In real time, Bitches brew / Tacoma Narrows, Kassandra, Raga for a rainy season / Love supreme and the repertory pieces Achterland, Woud, Mozart / Concert arias-a motorbike di gioia.