Room 7

Carolyn Carlson

Born in California, Carolyn Carlson defines herself above all as a nomad. Over the past four decades, her influence in dance in Europe has been considerable: She played a key role in the emergence of French and Italian contemporary dance with GRTOP at the Opéra de Paris and Teatrodanza at La Fenice. She has created over a hundred pieces, many of them major milestones. In 2006, her work was crowned with the first ever Golden Lion awarded to a choreographer by the Venice Biennale. In 2020 she was elected member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts choreography section. She is also Commandeur des Arts et Lettres, and Officer of the Légion d’Honneur.

Tero Saarinen

Tero Saarinen has had a distinguished international career as a dancer, choreographer and artistic director. He has made more than 40 creations for Tero Saarinen Company and other prominent dance groups, such as NDT 1, Batsheva Dance Company, National Dance Company of Korea and Lyon Opera Ballet. As a choreographer Saarinen is known for his unique movement language, ’an inventive mixture of grotesqueness and beauty’ that plays with balance, and off-balance. Saarinen’s solo career as a dancer took off in 1988, after he won first prize in the contemporary section of the Concours International de Danse de Paris. He has worked with several internationally renowned choreographers and has been considered as one of the most significant dancers of his generation.