Armed to dance

BODY MOVEMENTS: Un peu de tendresse bordel de merde

by MARITES CARINO

French choreographer Brice Leroux describes his new work Quantum-Quintet as a “pièce sur place.” Think of it as dancing on the spot—five dancers are side-by-side and dance with only their arms in the spotlight. In this curious, minimalist choreography, Leroux creates a fleshy, movement calligraphy designed for the dancer’s forearms, which gradually appear to hover and linger in near darkness.

Back in 2000, Leroux came up with the concept to create a visual piece that zoomed in on a specific body part and didn’t employ a lot of movement. He chose the forearms because spectators would forget they were attached to a body, and this would allow Leroux to dehumanize the limbs and create abstract disjointed shapes.

Leroux says that when spectators are confronted with these “10 floating segments in darkness, without a single spatial reference,” they become disoriented and lose their sense of time and space. Leroux adds that the destabilizing 50-minute piece is a “sort of hypnosis, an abstract calligraphy.”

Leroux created the set, lighting and costume design for the work and dances in it as well. Although it’s a definite challenge for a choreographer to both dance and direct, Leroux knew it was a necessity for this intense work. “It was important for me to be in it and learn from the inside so that I could understand the limits and the challenges of the piece.”

A former dancer for Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Leroux has been touring the piece for the past year with his Brussels-based company Continuum and makes a stop in Montreal for the first time from May 24–26 at the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui (3900 St-Denis).

And closer to home…

As for local movement masters, keep an eye out for upstart choreographer Dave St-Pierre, who brings us another raw group piece Un Peu de tendresse bordel de merde, the second installment of his trilogy, Sociologie et autres utopies contemporaines (May 26–29, Concordia’s DB Clarke Theatre, 1455 de Maisonneuve W.). And the week after, Daniel Léveillé Danse gives us a world premiere with Crépuscule des océans (June 2–5, Agora de la danse, 840 Cherrier).

Festival Transamériques runs until June 7.
Info: (514) 842-2112, www.fta.qc.ca