Links to writing, interviews and articles featuring Annie's work:
Review of A space for all our tomorrows at The Place, London (2024)
https://danceartjournal.com/2024/05/12/annie-hanauers-a-space-for-all-our-tomorrows/
Words by Bengi Sue Sirin.
When asked why they dance, dancers often describe a sense of freedom, liberation or release. Concepts that are very Utopian. Annie Hanauer’s latest piece A Space for All Our Tomorrows explores the dance/Utopia relationship with an extra emphasis on stage-as-Utopia, with a brilliant cast of differently-abled dancers who dance her vision into reality at The Place.
Hanauer, who has danced and choreographed for companies including Candoco, Mobius and Theater Munster, is passionate about inclusivity within artistic practice. She certainly builds a safe and embracing space for her fellow dancers in the piece. The three of them navigate movement with collaboration and care. They are accompanied by an on-stage singer, Deborah Lennie, who at times takes us to a place similar to the feels of Anohni and the Johnsons. There is also a variety of voiceovers in different languages (all captioned of course). In this way amongst others, the piece truly feels a welcoming space for all.
Beyond that, A Space for All Our Tomorrows also utilises some beautiful movement moments to, in Hanauer’s words, disrupt assumptions of what a dancing body is. When I close my eyes and visualise the piece, I predominantly remember entwined shapes. A cat’s cradle, a tide, a pretzel… All brought to life with the energy of dance. Then at points a solo or a duet gently breaks out, bringing a new perspective.
Laila White mesmerised both in the group, extending her crutches into steely angel wings, and on her own, using the floor and the music to present a percussive solo. Giuseppe Comuniello showed both strength and vulnerability, supporting his fellow performers in Dali-esque camel-on-stilts shapes, and taking his solo moments to very personal places. And when I remember Hanauer I think of marvellous extended silhouettes, both alone and as part of the group. All shine; it is not about one any more than the others like many dance shows end up being. As in the piece’s name, it is ‘a space for all.’
For me, the defining theme of A Space for All Our Tomorrows is its commitment to support and collaboration amongst the dancers – and the freedom this launches them all into. The utopia of inclusivity, of collaborative choreography, of the stage.
Review of Rachid Ouramdane's Variation(s) at Chaillot Theatre National de la Danse (2023)
https://www.dancereflections-vancleefarpels.com/en/show/variations
Bringing together two intense solos, performed by two magnificent dancers, Ruben Sanchez and Annie Hanauer, Variation(s) creates an extremely musical dance, verging on a state of trance.
Created in 2019, the piece is part of a refined set, with no decor, tending to concentrate the attention on the dance in action and allowing us to better appreciate all its modulations. It is composed of two solos of equal length, performed by two long-time associates of the choreographer. First on stage, Ruben Sanchez moves with extreme vibratory agility on a large rectangular board placed on the ground. Tapping the ground with an otherworldly agility in his feet, striking his body with his hands, this wind-soled colossus generates a very percussive and organic score. Annie Hanauer follows. At one with the music all throughout, crossing the light, sometimes seeming to barely touch the ground, she performs a twirling and shimmering dance, punctuated by breathtaking moments, whose fluidity is matched only by its expressiveness. Rich in emotions, stretched towards the perimeter of a trance, the whole is absolutely thrilling.
Jérôme Provençal
Danza & Danza Award for best Performer of the year, 2020:
https://www.danzaedanza.com/docs/Premio_d&d_2020.pdf
ANNIE HANAUER Già danzatrice dei Candoco concui nel 2009 e 2012 ha partecipato ai Giochi Paraolimpici e con cui ha ballato pezzi di Trisha Brown, Nigel Charnock e molti altri, interprete per Emanuel Gat e Boris Charmatz, ha toccato l’anima dei tanti singolispettatori che l’hanno vista l’estatescors a nell’ EDEN_selon Rachid a la festival Bolzano Danza 2020. Nell’assolo coreografato nella scena vuota da Rachid Ouramdane sull’Adagio per archi di Samuel Barber, Annie Hanauer ha dato visione a quel desiderio di speranza che ci accompagna da mesi. Resta nel cuore la delicatezza di quel gesto delle braccia che si aprono alzandosiverso l’alto insieme allo sguardo, la ricerca nel movimento sottile della danza di un respiro, quella sensazione di libertà, quella mancanza di paurache continua drammaticamente a mancarci. Un danzare prezioso, quello di Annie, così umano nel farcisentire la bellezza di resistere senza negare la fragilità.
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ANNIE HANAUER, former dancer of Candoco with whom she participated in the Paralympic Games in 2009 and 2012 and with whom she danced pieces by Trisha Brown, Nigel Charnock and many others, interpreter for Emanuel Gat and Boris Charmatz, touched the soul of the many individual spectators who saw her there Last summer in the EDEN_selon Rachid from the Bolzano Danza festival 2020. In the solo choreographed in the empty scene by Rachid Ouramdane on Samuel Barber's Adagio for strings, Annie Hanauer gave vision to that desire for hope that has been accompanying us for months. The delicacy of that gesture of the arms opening upwards together with the gaze remains in the heart, the search in the subtle movement of the dance of a breath, that sensation of freedom, that lack of fear that we continue to dramatically lack. A precious dance, that of Annie, so human in making us feel the beauty of resisting without denying fragility.
Interview In Dance Magazine, USA, 2017
Most anticipated shows, 2016- Les Inrocks, France:
Biennale de la danse de Lyon
A la fois populaire et expérimentale, pour reprendre les mots même de sa directrice artistique Dominique Hervieu, la Biennale de la danse de Lyon est surtout unique en son genre. Quinze jours de rendez-vous entre créations et accueils de spectacles en tournée, un défilé pour tous, des conférences. Petit plus cette année, une exposition, Corps rebelles, au Musée des Confluences (jusqu’au 5 mars 2017), qui entend retracer cent ans de danse avec force vidéos et performances. Il y aura des découvertes (Marina Mascarell, Euripides Laskaridis ou Jonah Bokaer, ce dernier s’offrant une bande-son signée Pharrell Williams pour Rules of the Game), et des favoris de nos pages comme Olivier Dubois, Cecilia Bengolea et François Chaignaud, Alain Platel, Israel Galván ou Daniel Linehan. Sans oublier deux femmes puissantes : Cristiana Morganti, danseuse de Pina Bausch, et Louise Lecavalier. Et Tordre, un duo somptueux de Rachid Ouramdane avec Annie Hanauer et Lora Juodkaite. Royal. PN
Du 14 au 30 septembre,biennaledeladanse.com