Artists in residence

Dale Blackheart born as David Leach in Baltimore, MD, is an American dancer, choreographer and artist. He began dancing at an early age and pursued this passion through the years from competing in talent shows to co-captain of his high school dance troop. As a young, black and gay male in Baltimore, there weren’t many opportunities for him to dance freely so he turned to the underground Ballroom community where he mastered the art of vogueing.

For over 10 years Dale has worked with numerous artists such as but not limited to Régine Chopinot, Alexandre Paulikevitch, Saul Williams, Abdu Ali, Andy DeGroat, Zoe Charlton, Earl Orrin, Stephanie Von Aydan and Frédéric Nauczyciel. From these continuing acquaintances and collaborations Dale has been part of numerous original productions such as CUNTender (2012), Legendary (2013) and Singluis et Simul (2020).

Dale has taught vogue classes of all ages, has been featured in music videos and also has acted, choreographed and performed in live theater shows such as Chocolate Covered Rocky Horror (2015) and Évanescent (2020).

INTERVIEW

What are the benefits of a residency in Montmartre, at the Cité internationale des arts?

“As you can see from my artistic projects, my plastic work is mostly experimental and does not correspond to current market values. The installations I develop involve raw material in motion. This therefore poses conservation problems, which makes it difficult for the different collections to access my work. The projects I have been working on since the beginning of my residency at the Cité internationale des arts are among them.

Despite these apparent difficulties, I was fortunate to be accompanied by the Cité internationale des arts, which put me in touch with collaborators who believe in the relevance of my research and who allow me to continue working on the projects I design. Thanks to the trust placed in me by the Cité internationale des arts, I can develop my work and research by being free of some of the material and financial contingencies related to my professional practice and enjoy a space for experimentation, but also for life.

Without this unique structure that is the Cité, it would have been impossible for me to realize the Geysa project that was presented for NUIT BLANCHE-2018-Paris at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie and I could not continue to focus on my next major project that will be presented in October 2019 for the Biennale Némo at the CENTQUATRE – Paris (artistic establishment in the city of Paris).

In addition to my artistic activity, I have been working for several months on a thesis project within the SACRe program (Science, Art, Creation, Research) of which I was a laureate and whose research is funded by PSL (Université Paris, Science et Lettres) for the next three years.

This thesis is co-directed by the research laboratory of the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs de Paris (ENSAD Lab) and the Centre des mathématiques appliquées (CMA) of the prestigious Ecole des Mines Paris – Tech. Through its repeated recommendations, the Cité internationale des arts certainly played a key role in the selection committee that awarded me this research grant. Committed, willing, creative: the Cité’s wonderful team that accompanies artists in this residency program makes it an asset for every creator who passes through the walls of this institution, which is indispensable in the Parisian landscape.”

What feedback on your Nuit Blanche projects?

“The Geysa project that was realized for Nuit Blanche allowed a diffusion of my work like I had never known before. In one night alone, more than 20,000 visitors were able to see this device in action. This successful work shows the professionals accompanying me my ability to implement large-scale and monumental projects, to manage teams and a substantial budget.

Thanks to the Cité internationale des arts, the confidence of professionals and investors is renewed. This marks a new stage in my artistic journey and promises new adventures rich in encounters, exchanges and dissemination of my future work.”

 BIOGRAPHY

Born in Besançon in 1985, Fabien Léaustic is a graduate of both an engineering school and the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs de Paris. 

Supported by the DRAC Bourgogne Franche-Comté, he exhibits his work in France or abroad, in institutions (Palais de Tokyo, CENTQUATRE Paris, Centre des arts Enghien les Bains, Casa de Velazquez Madrid, FRAC Franche-Comté…) or independent structures (Vasarely Aix-en-Provence Foundation, Espace Pierre-Cardin Paris…). After two years of residency at the Cité internationale des arts, Fabien Léaustic continues his research within the SACRe doctoral program (Sciences, Art, Creation, Research) funded by PSL (Paris Sciences Lettres). 

French-Swiss librettist and stage Director, Chloé Lechat joined the Ecole supérieure d’art dramatique of the Théâtre national de Strasbourg in 2004, under the direction of Stéphane Braunschweig, in the Direction and Creation class. She then accompanied various stage directors (Christophe Honoré, Stefan Herheim, Barrie Kosky, Mariame Clément, Stéphane Braunschweig, David Marton, Alfredo Arias, Katharina Thalbach) as an artistic collaborator in several opera houses and festivals for about ten years.

In 2019, she has taken part in the workshop Opera in creation of the Academy of the International Festival of Lyric Art of Aix-en-Provence directed by Pascal Dusapin. She will then write her first libretto for the chamber opera Nach dem Kuss, for which she received the Beaumarchais-SACD writing grant in 2019 (musical composition: Clara Olivares), a project supported by La Chartreuse-CNES. In 2020, she continued with the Amsterdam Opera & Writing Workshop under the direction of Luc Joosten, organised by the Dutch National Opera & Ballet, after which she created the music theatre company Liese Nebel in collaboration with the dramaturge and musicologist Raphaëlle Blin.

During the 2021-2022 season, she directed La Traviata at the Opéra de Limoges. She was interested in the myth of the character of the Lady of the Camellias, locked in a patriarchal economic and political system. One of the themes of this work: the perpetual construction of hierarchies echoes her own research.  She now wishes to pursue the exploration of these issues in a broader historical and cultural perspective. During her residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts, she is working on the writing of the opera WoMen.

In the 2022-2023 season, she will stage a project at the Philharmonie de Paris honoring the composer Germaine Tailleferre.

Chloé Lechat is a member of the Réseau des Autrices Francophones de Berlin and of the Young Opera Makers program of the ENOA network.