L’Alliance New York Announces Lenio Kaklea’s "The Birds" (NY PREMIERE)
Company:
L’Alliance New York
L’Alliance New York announces the New York premiere of Lenio Kaklea’s The Birds co-presented with PS21: Center for Contemporary Performance as part of the 2026 Crossing The Line Festival on Friday, September 18 and Saturday, September 19 at 7:30PM at 2980 Route 66, Chatham, NY 12037. Tickets are available at four price points, with $30 as the standard ticket price. For more information and to reserve tickets, CLICK HERE.
Returning to Crossing The Line after Αγρίμι / Fauve in 2024, choreographer Lenio Kaklea continues her exploration of ecology through dance. In The Birds, she takes inspiration from the ways in which birds structure their behavior through dance and song, from mating rituals to hunting patterns. In recreating these behaviors, Kaklea reflects on the desire to be seen and heard, which is shared across species, from birds to humans. Birds also represent a powerful figure of control, in the form of the looming birds of prey. Bright colors, acrobatics and energetic movements contrast with the threat of being watched, as Kaklea questions the precarious equilibrium between freedom and subjugation.
Lenio Kaklea is a dancer, choreographer, director, and artist born in Athens and based in Paris. She trained at the National Conservatory of Contemporary Dance in Athens, where she studied classical ballet alongside American modern techniques and repertories, including those of Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and José Limón. In 2005, she was awarded the Pratsika Foundation Prize and relocated to France, joining the CNDC in Angers under the direction of Emmanuelle Huynh. After her graduation, she collaborated with prominent figures of the European dance scene, including Alexandra Bachzetsis, Boris Charmatz, Claudia Triozzi, François Chaignaud, and Cecilia Bengolea. In 2011, she completed the SPEAP program at Sciences Po Paris, a master in experimentation in arts and politics led by the philosopher Bruno Latour.
Since 2009, Kaklea’s artistic practice has encompassed choreography, text, and video, informed by feminist and postcolonial thought. Her work investigates the production of subjectivity and reveals the intimate spaces in which identity is formed.
Her work have been presented across Europe and the United States at institutions and festivals including the Centre Pompidou, the National Theatre of Chaillot, MOCA – Museum of contemporary art in Los Angeles, Sadler’s Wells, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Festival d’Automne, the Serpentine, Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Palazzo Grassi – Pinault Collection, New York Live Arts, ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival, Montpellier Dance Festival, Athens and Epidaurus Festival, the National Greek Opera, and Les presses du réel. Her performances are included in public and private collections such as the MNAM – Musée national d’Art moderne, CNAP – National Centre for Visual Arts, and KADIST Foundation.
Alongside her personal choreographic projects, Kaklea collaborates widely. In 2013, the American choreographer Lucinda Childs created a solo for her on a music composition by Ryoji Ikeda. In 2022, she collaborated with the Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta, performing at Punta della Dogana in costumes designed by Matthieu Blazy.
Recent years have seen Kaklea receive major commissions. In 2019, she was awarded the Dance Prize from the Hermès Italia Foundation and the Triennale di Milano, creating the autobiographical solo Ballad. In 2021, she choreographed Age of Crime, a piece for nine performers, for the bicentenary of the Greek Revolution at the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, as well as Sonatas and Interludes, John Cage’s seminal work for prepared piano, performed with pianist Orlando Bass.
In 2024, Kaklea received the 25th Pernod Ricard Award and created the film An Alphabet for the Camera. That same year, she premiered Chemical Joy, a stage work for five dancers of the BODHI PROJECT Ensemble, a Salzburg-based contemporary dance company founded by former Merce Cunningham Company member Susan Quinn. In 2025, she choreographed Craft is our Language, a campaign celebrating the 50th anniversary of Bottega Veneta’s iconic leather weave, Intrecciato. The campaign features artists from film, music, literature, and sport, including Julianne Moore, Dario Argento, Troy Kotsur, Tyler, the Creator, Zadie Smith, and Lorenzo Musetti.
A vibrant center for contemporary performance in the Hudson Valley, PS21 is a nationally recognized “hub for adventurous art upstate” (The New York Times). Year-round, PS21 presents and develops ambitious productions by leading and emerging American and international artists, showcasing what’s new and thought-provoking in music, dance, theatre—and in entirely new and boundary-defying genres. With a 350-seat open-air theater on a 100-acre campus of meadows, streams, and trails, PS21 is a must-see, must-experience destination for curious audiences of all ages and stripes—at ticket prices that welcome all.
Billing credits:
Direction and Choreography: Lenio Kaklea
Performed by and Developed with: Nefeli Asteriou, Liza Baliasnaja, Amanda Barrio Charmelo, Luisa Heilbron, Louis Nam Le Van Ho, Dimitri Mytilinaios, Jaeger Wilkinson
Text: Lou Forster according to Les Guérilleres by Monique Wittig and Les chimères by Gérard de Nerval
Sound Composition and Technical Direction: Eric Yvelin
Set: Clio Boboti
Lights: Jean-Marc Ségalen
Costumes: Olivier Mulin
Assistant Set Designer: Angeliki Vassilopoulou-Kampitsi
Set Seamstress: Angeliki Baltsaki
Scientific Interlocutor: Thierry Aubin, Director, Acoustic Communication Team, CNRS, Paris-Saclay University
Trapeze Instructor: Christina Sougioultzi
Administration and Production Management: Olivier Poujol
Distribution: Fanny Virelizier
Production credits:
Production: abd
Co-production: Biennale of Charleroi Dance/Choreographic Center of Wallonie and
Bruxelles (BE), The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Los Angeles (US), Le
festival d’automne (FR), CCN/Ballet de Lorraine (FR), Théâtre de la Vignette (FR),
NEXT Festival (BE), CCN/Ballet National de Marseille (FR)
Support for Crossing The Line Festival
Air France, Albertine Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Van Cleef & Arpels, Wescustogo Foundation. L'Alliance New York's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the Support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Additional Support for The Birds
Thanks to the scientific committee of La Pop (Paris). abd receives structural subsidies from the DRAC/Île de France, and the support of the 2025 Consultation of the Convention French Institut-City of Paris. With the support of the Montpellier Dance Festival, the CNDC/Atelier de Paris and the Carreau du Temple.
About PS21: Center for Contemporary Performance
A vibrant center for contemporary performance in the Hudson Valley, PS21 is a nationally-recognized “hub for adventurous art upstate” (The New York Times). Year-round, PS21 presents and develops ambitious productions by leading and emerging American and international artists, showcasing what’s new and thought-provoking in music, dance, theatre—and in entirely new and boundary-defying genres. With a 350-seat open-air theater on a 100-acre campus of meadows, streams, and trails, PS21 is a must-see, must-experience destination for curious audiences of all ages and stripes—at ticket prices that welcome all.
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