A Century Disseminating French Culture

A Century Disseminating French Culture
Santo Domingo, February 20, 2014

The Alliance Française reaches one hundred years of existence and to celebrate the anniversary, it will offer concerts, exhibitions, dances, and other cultural activities throughout 2014. On Thursday, February 20th, Camaïeu, a contemporary art show, will open the official ceremony to launch the festivities to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the institution.

Camaïeu will perform at 8:00 pm in the Máximo Avilés Blonda Hall of the Palace of Fine Arts. Admission is free and by invitation only, which can be picked up at the reception desk of the Alliance Française in Santo Domingo until February 18th, 2014.

“Camaïeu” is an artistic proposal of contemporary circus that tells, through humor and poetry, the story of a man and his encounter with a doll one night. On stage, Pedro Izquierdo, accompanied by musician Diego Galaz Ballesteros, builds a world full of emotions.

“When I started, I was greatly influenced by silent films, which explains my nod to Charlie Chaplin, a movie icon. That is why I created a show full of poetry and humor, that mixes theater, juggling, acrobatics, and mime to convey various emotions”, says Pedro Izquierdo.

To perform this show, Izquierdo said he was inspired by a documentary about the life of a homeless person, which was screened during the Locarno International Film Festival (Switzerland). “That person made me laugh, cry, moved me, touched me,….”

After the show, everyone is invited to share a cake during a toast with entertainment provided by the group Bonyé, according to a press release.

Today the Alliance Française of Santo Domingo is part of a worldwide network of 500,000 students of the French language and 6,000,000 viewers who make it the first cultural NGO worldwide. The historical missions of the Alliance Française are the teaching of French and cultural exchanges.