Collaborative Control, 2016

During Claire Zakiewicz's residency at Bill Young Dance studios in New York, she collaborated with dancers Anna Chirescu, who trained in classical dance at the Conservatory of Paris before joining the Conservatoire National superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), and Pierre Guilbault, a Paris-based dancer, who has a background in ballet and contemporary dance, and New York based singer and cellist Lenna Pierce.

"When I first saw Claire's paintings, I was struck by a kind of universality, at the same time that they strongly reminded me of Slavic fairytales. 'Look', I said, 'there's the firebird and he wants the viewer to follow'. I could see the characters very clearly even though other people surely saw something completely different. A great fairytale is both universal and specific.
The setting for the project, a huge Soho loft that had been presented to Claire by the kindness of strangers, put us all in a great mood. It was like a dream of what New York art life should be.
The method, painting by dancer, reminded me of memories made of physical movement: treasure maps, battle plans, peak sexual experiences. In the improvisation I moved around an internal map of conflict and union. It was thrilling to see the dancers respond to my music and I tried to be as responsive to them as possible. I could tell we had all succeeded by the great feeling of closeness afterward, dappled by joyful laughter. We had created an intuitive and caring balance of power, a real harmony that transcended any of the elements physically present." - Lenna Pierce, The Hypocrite Reader, 2016