| Floanne Ankah | |
|---|---|
at the 5th Big Apple Film Festival, 2008 |
|
| Born | Florence Annequin Bourgoin-Jallieu, France |
| Occupation | Actress, Singer, Filmmaker |
| Website | |
| http://www.floanne.com/ | |
Floanne Ankah (born Florence Annequin) is an actress[1] and filmmaker also known as a singer[2] under the mononym Floanne. She was born and raised in France, and has lived in New York City since 2000. Ankah is the founder of SiMPLE production,[3] an organization committed to the development of new interdisciplinary works that integrate the talent of innovative and "sparkling" artists from various cultures.
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Floanne Ankah[4] has appeared in film (Then She Found Me),[5] on television (One Life to Live),[6] in the theater (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Julius Caesar[7]) including at The Public Theater[8], and has read alongside theater personalities such as Israel Horowitz. Floanne has worked as a voice artist for major feature films (The Limits of Controls, What Just Happened[9]) and voice-overs for national television commercials.[10] The webisode Life with Flow[11] features her work in several collaborative short films. She performs with Cherub Improv, a volunteer comedy group[12] and is involved at the Magnet Theater and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.
Floanne is a French chanteuse and songstress[13]. Her repertoire includes French chanson, Americain classics and her own songs[14]. She has been performing a solo cabaret show, Floin' to America[15] with directors such as fellow performers Isengart[16] at venues such as The Metropolitan Room, The Triad Theater and monthy residencies at Flûte Gramercy[17] and Brasserie Julien[18]. Her interpretation of Michelle from The Beatles is the 75th release of the Beatles Complete on Yukulele.[19]. She collaborates with numerous NYC musicians her original songs and has a free bi-weekly video podcast on iTunes that features new music videos, live concerts and making-ofs segments[20]. Her opera repertory as a soprano includes Mozart arias such as Barbarina, Susanna and Zerlina and the coloratura role of Olympia.
Ankah's choreography is drawn from her yoga practice, and integrates movement with the human voice as an instrument.[3] Her creations are collaborative and often include video projections and soundscapes. She has been shown at Movement Research at the Judson Church, the Merce Cunningham Studio, Abrons Arts Center, Dance New Amsterdam and HERE Arts Center, and has performed for artists such as Mina Nishimura,[21][22] Nina Morrison[23], Meredith Monk (at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum[24]), John Duncan, Michou Szabo and Noémie Lafrance (at the McCarren Park Pool)[25].
Ankah fuses the mediums of dance/performance art and film, creating experimental films.[26] ONE WAY,[27][28] awarded Best Experimental Film at the 5th Big Apple Film Festival at the Tribeca Cinemas in New York City in 2008,[29] and Waterfront Access?,[30] awarded the 2010 Golden Reel Award for Best Dance Film at the Tiburon International Film Festival,[31] were the result of a collaboration with artist Joe Zolkowski. She is currently developing a feature documentary in French, Le Maréchal et l'Astragale about her father's farm in South-East France, sharing the flavor of a lifestyle that may soon vanish.[32]
Raised in Châbons, France, Ankah comes from a farm and has two siblings[33]. She graduated from the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater for improvisation comedy. She also trained in acting at the HB Studio and the School for Film and Television, at the Alvin Ailey school for dance, yin yoga and in opera as a soprano. Upon arrival in New York City, she worked as an assitsant to photographer-filmmaker Jerry Schatzberg, singer/songwriter Frank Simms, sculptor Strong-Cuevas,[34] and author Frances Kazan, to organize the archive of late husband Elia Kazan.
One woman show[35]
Experimental film[26]
Choreography work[40]
Photographic exhibition[43]