"Stone" with the choreographer / dancer Elise Ralston
In the middle of the
road
In the middle of the road there was a
stone
there was a stone in the middle of the
road
there was a
stone
in the middle of the road there was
a stone
Never should I forget this
event
in the life of my fatigued retinas,
Never should I forget that in the middle of the
road
there was a
stone
there was a stone in the middle of the
road
In the middle of the road there was a stone.
Carlos Drummond de Andrade
Elise Ralston
Elise Ralston, born in São Paulo, Brazil, started learning classical ballet and ioga at the age of 6 in her hometown. In 1982 graduated in classical ballet at the John Cranko Academy in Stuttgart, German.
Elise Ralston studied classical and modern dance at the Marjorie-Mussmann School in New York (Limon, a.o.) and yoga at the Institut of Health and Education of Alan Bateman (ioga teacher certificate) From 1982 to 1986 she was a member of Reinhilds Hoffman´s Dance - Theater Company in Bremen, Germany.
Ms. Ralston learned several brazilian dance styles like religious afro brazilian dances and traditional forms of Carnaval of Pernambuco, like Maracatu, among others. These brazilian dance styles combined with her experience in yoga and improvisation inspired a new dance style of her own called "Dança Expressiva"
Elise Ralston has given many workshops in Brasil, among others for the Ballet of Teatro Municipal de São Paulo. Since 1998 Ms. Ralston teaches yoga and „Dança Expressiva“ at the Tanz Fabrik in Berlin.
Besides teaching she has developed and performed several choreographies like : „Zwischenwelten“ and „Ciclo da Águas, both in collaboration with the musician Parana Bomfim,as well as the perfomance „Tanzen ist Menschlich
Silvia Ocougne
Born in São Paulo, Brazil. Studies of guitar with Manoel São Marcos and Composition at the University of Sao Paulo with Willy Correa de Oliveira .
In 1984 Silvia Ocougne was the recipient of a scholarship from the Brazilian goverment to study "Third Stream"- guitar at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, with Ran Blake and Mick Goodrick. In 1986 she received her Master of Music. Living in Berlin since 1987 she has performed both as a soloist and with many composers/musicians as Chico Mello, Arnold Dreyblatt, Livio Tragtenberg, Daniel Ott and Carlo Domeniconi. In the 90´s she was a member of the experimental music groups "The Thirteenth Tribe", as well as the "Orchestra of Excited Strings. Since 1999 member of Armchair Traveller.
Silvia Ocougne has performed as a soloist and with Berliner groups in Europe, South America and Asia. She has composed music for film, theater, hörspiel and dance: (selected) Film, Days of Miendi by Yingli Ma (China /Berlin); São Paulo de Juó Bananére , by João Claudio de Sena, (Brazil); The Pursuit of Happiness , by Jimmie Durham ( Italy, France, Berlin); Dance: Pedra , together with Elise Ralston; CD Rom: Paulicéia Desvairada by Joao Cláudio de Sena and Paula Janovich, Brazil ; Sound Instalation Wanderausstellung Ostsee in die Freiheit ; God is design , DVD Instalation by Adel Abdessemed (Paris, Berlin).
