LITTLE LADY Set for Kraine Theater, Jan 14

LITTLE LADY will perform at Horse Trade's Kraine Theater on January 14th at 5:30 p.m. as part of the Encore Festival.

The transformation of Cirque du Soleil and Celine Dion dancer to performer generated theater artist is mirrored in this dark, comic and at times grotesque fable about our modern day obsession with self- image. The exquisite movement skills of Lafond juxtaposed with the world of distortion and manipulation accentuates LITTLE LADY's tormented and blissful metamorphosis.

LITTLE LADY is a 50 min one-woman show, a comedy inspired by years living in Las Vegas. In 2012 it was performed extensively through out the United States and Canada. The show was awarded the "Favorite Festival Award" at the Frigid Festival in New York and the "Most Daring Show Award" at the Fringe Festival in London, Ont. The show got raving reviews, amazing feed back, sold out shows and was "Held over" in NY and "Best of Fest" in Ottawa.

CREATIVE TEAM
Creator/Interpret: SANDRINE LAFOND
Director: John Turner
Creative Consultant: MIRIAM CUSSON
Composer: YVES FRULLA
Video/ Photography: PAOLO A.SANTOS
Costume: MARIE-LAURE LARRIEU and NELLY ROGERSON
Make up: ELISABETH LEHOUX
Props: JEAN-SEBASTIEN GAGNON

SANDRINE was born in France where she started dancing at five years old. She attended the prestigious Rosella Hightower Dance School in Cannes. A gypsy at heart she traveled from one country to another to study new ways of interpreting her art. Then nineteen years ago she fell in love with Montreal and its cultural scene. From that point on; the North American continent became her home, and the rest of the word her playground. Sandrine has had the pleasure to work with Cirque du Soleil (Delirium, Kooza, Zarkana, special events), Celine Dion (A New Day), Marie Chouinard (Etude Poignante, The Right Of Spring, The cry of the world, Chopin) and Philippe Decoufle (1992 Olympic Games opening/closing ceremonies) and many other talented friends along the way. Her desire to break new ground brought her to Japan to study with Butoh master Min Tanaka and back home to Canada to study clown with John Turner, Francine Cote and bouffon with Karen Hines. Filled with that knowledge she felt the need to create her own work, which gave life to the character "Little ???- Attribution Lady". A personal reflection on ten years of her life in Las Vegas. Sandrine performed her show "Little Lady" 67 times in 2012 across the North American continent. A new piece will be created in 2013 along with touring "Little Lady".

John Turner is best known as the "Smoot" half of Mump & Smoot, along with Michael Kennard ("Mump"). This award winning Canadian clown duo has delighted audiences throughout North America for the past 24 years. In 2010 Mump & Smoot presented their newest show "Cracked" at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre and as part of the Magnetic North Festival to outstanding audience response and critical acclaim. It has gone on to successful runs at Theatre Network in Edmonton and at Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary in April/May 2011. After three sold out Fringe Festival tours in 1989, 1990, and 1992, Mump & Smoot went on to play regional theatres across the continent with great success. These theatres include the Astor Place Theater (Off Broadway), Yale Repertory Theater, the La Jolla Playhouse, the Dallas Theater Center, the American Repertory Theater (Boston), Baltimore Center Stage, the Canadian Stage in Toronto, Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary, and the Vancouver East Cultural Centre to name but a few. John has been recognized for his work with a Dora award, a Canadian Comedy award, a Boston Theatre award and a Drama Logue award (California). John began teaching the Pochinko style of clown in 1991 at Equity Showcase in Toronto. He taught there for 7 years before opening his own studio, The SPACE, with Michael Kennard where he continued to teach, direct, and work on Mump & Smoot shows for the next 6 years. He currently teaches primarily at Laurentian University and throughout the summer on his farm, The Clown Farm, on Manitoulin Island. He also has had ongoing teaching gigs at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre (6 years) and the De-ba-jeh-mu-jig. Theatre Company (5 years). Other teaching stints have included the Yale School of Drama Graduate Program where he was an associate artist for seven years, the University of Calgary, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (Workman Theatre Project), the University of Tel Aviv, Bishops University, the University of Guelph, California State University, Michigan Tech, the Humber Comedy Centre and the Stratford Festival. John's directing credits include Karen Hines' Citizen Pochsy (nominated for the Governor General's Award for Drama). Other directing credits include Michael Kennard's Puzzle Me Red, Miriam Cusson and Mélissa Rockburn's Stuff, Diana Kolpak's Lionheart, Emelia Symington Fedy's Patti Fedy in Lovers Rock. For the De-ba-jeh-mu-jig Theatre Group, John directed the workshop and full production of The Gulch, created by the company, as well as Tomson Highway's A Trickster Tale. John also directed Clown & Such... at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre.

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