Catherine Massin
performance - visual art - writing – Brussels, Belgium
1956 -2024
While finishing her studies at the Sorbonne (Paris), the French-born Catherine Massin joined as young actress the theatre Labyrinth (1974-1978). She received training in contemporary dance in France and in the USA. Between 1983-1996, she worked as a dancer, choreographer and movement pedagogue in Belgium., her dance company created pieces of innovative movement theatre, performed in Europe. From the 90’s, she created choreographies for the students of the Hoge School voor Dans in Antwerpen. Later, she collaborated with musicians of NASMA group (contemporary music from the XXth century) and started to experiment with the expressive possibilities of oil or acryl painting using the movement of the hand. From 2000 she worked in improvisation joining the performance collective “les Bains Connective “based in Brussel. She created video installations and experimented with body language (improvisation around moving, talking and writing). With Pierre Rubio, she performed in Europe with ‘Conversations’, improvisation score using physical and verbal languages, she collaborated with the writer An Penders and collaborated with Pierre de Lune Association, mixing dance with painting. At the same time, she taught children creative dance and finished her studies in clinical psychology. “I have always been interested in the physical expressions of emotions. I used photography, paintings and videos in my choreographies, evolving into new tools to express instinct, emotion and intellect encountering new faces, new places, playing with I , you , we , he , she , it , they , touch , say , move , remember , see , articulate , feel , poetry , dance , feeling, anatomy , image, thoughts , personal history , not personal history.