Hervé Robbe
choreographer

Hervé Robbe was born in Lille in 1961. Trained at Mudra, Maurice Béjart’s school in Brussels, while also studying architecture, he began his career as a dancer with the classical and neoclassical repertoire and took his first steps as a choreographer with the company Le Marietta secret, where he remained for twelve years. He then spent thirteen years directing the Centre chorégraphique national du Havre Haute Normandie. In January 2012, he founded a new production company: Travelling&Co. To date, Hervé Robbe has created some fifty choreographic works, which have been performed in France and internationally. Research into movement and the potential of new choreographic approaches has been at the heart of his artistic practice. He has developed educational programs for dance school projects at the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP), CNSMD in Lyon, CNDC in Angers, Coline in Istres, CDC in Toulouse, the National Higher School of Dance in Marseille, APA in Hong Kong, and Mito Art Tower in Japan. Hervé Robbe has always been involved in promoting choreographic culture, working with school and amateur audiences, as well as with teachers, cultural mediators, dance instructors, and their respective training centers (CEFEDEM, National Dance Center in Pantin). His projects have led to collaborations with composers (Costin Miereanu, Kasper T. Toeplitz, Cécile Le Prado, Thierry Blondeau, Frédéric Verrières, Andrea Cera…), visual artists (Richard Deacon, Kozue Naito), and video artists (Christian Boustani, Valérie Urrea, Aldo Lee, Vincent Bosc). This work has fostered partnerships with art schools, university departments, and visual arts centers. It has enabled dance to gain a presence within broader networks: Ircam – Centre Pompidou, Le Fresnoy, MuMa in Le Havre, Biennale Arts Le Havre, Numéridanse.tv, Fondation Cartier.
—www.herverobbe.com

Jérôme Combier
composer, artistic director

Jérôme Combier is a composer and the artistic director of the Cairn ensemble, which he founded in 1997. He first studied composition, music theory, analysis, and orchestration with Hacène Larbi, then at the Paris Conservatory (CNSM) in 1997 (under Emmanuel Nunes and Michaël Levinas). In 1998, he participated in the Royaumont Foundation’s composition session and, as part of an exchange program, spent two months in residence in Japan. Jérôme Combier received the Prix de la Vocation in 2001 (awarded by the Bleustein-Blanchet Foundation) and the Prix Pierre Cardin in 2006. In 2001–2002, he completed the composition and computer music program at IRCAM. From 2004 to 2005, Jérôme Combier was a resident at the French Academy in Rome—Villa Medici. Jérôme Combier has written works for the Ensemble Recherche and the Ensemble Intercontemporain as part of the Festival d’Automne in Paris. In collaboration with Pierre Nouvel, he created the installation *Noir gris* for the Beckett exhibition organized by the Centre Georges Pompidou. His music was performed at the Louvre as part of the series *Le Louvre invite Pierre Boulez*. In 2011, with Pierre Nouvel and Bertrand Couderc, he adapted W.G. Sebald’s novel *Austerlitz* for the stage, premiering at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. In 2012, he wrote the opera Terre et cendres with Atiq Rahimi, commissioned by the Opéra de Lyon. He has given masterclasses at the University of Berkeley (San Francisco), the conservatories of Antwerp, Liège, and Lugano, at Royaumont Abbey, at Unesp University in São Paulo, and at McGill University in Montreal. Jérôme Combier’s music is published by Éditions Lemoine and Verlag Neue Musik (Berlin), and is recorded by the Cairn ensemble on the Motus and Æon labels. In 2012, he received the SACD New Talents Award, and in 2017, the Koussevitzky Foundation Award from the Library of Congress (USA). Since 2012, he has taught sound and music creation at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts de Paris-Cergy.
— www.ensemble-cairn.com/ensemble/Jerome-Combier

Coline
Professional training for performing dancers

Coline, a professional training program for performing dancers, is based at the Maison de la Danse in Istres. Coline offers a two-year training program and aims to guide 12 to 14 performing dancers toward a professional career. It places a strong emphasis on artistic commitment, creative work, and repertoire development by inviting choreographers to present their pieces, as well as on stage experience. Coline also develops outreach programs for preschool, elementary, middle, and high school students, focusing on the contemporary choreographic repertoire presented and created by guest choreographers. Transmission/creation projects planned for 2020–2022: Maguy Marin /Waterzooï (excerpts) – repertoire – January 21, Théâtre de Fos/Mer; Ingri Midgard Fiksdal / revival of Shadows of Tomorrow – Théâtre d’Arles – March 21 (CANCELED), Hervé Robbe / 3/6/20 - repertoire, Ambra Senatore / Aringa Rossa by Coline - repertoire/creation - June 21 KLAP Maison pour la danse in Marseille, Thomas Lebrun / new work - Fall 2021 - venue to be determined Joanne Leighton / new work Scènes et Cinés Ouest Provence – Fall 2021 or early 2022, new work with Christian Ubl, artist-in-residence as part of the new Pe2c (Center for Choreographic Experimentation and Creation) in 2021/2022.