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Wheelchair access >> Victoria explores the loss of memory and mobility by MARITES CARINO
When I met with Langfelder, she was perched atop a ladder at Agora de la danse, putting the final touches on her set. It resembles a sterile hospital room--complete with flimsy sliding curtains on metal tracks. The work spotlights a elderly character named Victoria, who is confined to a wheelchair and suffers from Alzheimer's. Like the nature of the disease, the show is not linear: "It's based on a series of situations that show Victoria's state of mind," explains the American-born choreographer, who also dances and wheels her way through the part. Like her previous works, Langfelder weaves video, music and text into the piece. The show's concept was born three years ago when Langfelder's friend and co-writer, Charles Fariala, was working as an orderly at a hospital where he had an Alzheimer's patient named Victor. Fariala was inspired to write texts about Victor, and suggested that Langfelder create a piece based on him. "I was immediately seduced by the idea," Langfelder recalls. "Somebody who has lost all of his power, and his name is Victor! We'll call her Victoria!" While researching the subject, Langfelder began visiting local hospitals. She became attached to an Alzheimer's patient named Angèle, and soon started spending several hours with her each week. "When you spend time in front of someone with Alzheimer's, it's like being in front of a poem," Langfelder says. She compiled the poetry of her conversations with Angèle and uses excerpts in the show. A phrase such as "I don't remember your name, but you've got a lovely air about you" became part of the show's soundtrack. Langfelder hopes to see Angèle in the audience this week--"even though she might talk through the whole thing," she says, smiling. For Langfelder, the unusual addition of the wheelchair to the work was happenstance. Fariala had offhandedly suggested that Langfelder use a wheelchair in the piece; shortly thereafter, "a wheelchair just appeared in the studio," she recounts, humming the Twilight Zone theme. Although she sits in the wheelchair for much of the show, Langfelder is not completely confined to it. "I'm playing the character's soul, so I guess that gives me more liberty to move," she explains. And after playing a 90-year-old woman, Langfelder says she now feels "that being 44 is really, really young!" Under one roof Also opening its doors this week is a choreography called Duplex. The brainchild of dancer Mark Shaub, the piece uses the concept of a duplex to house two contrasting realities on the same stage. Shaub commissioned two choreographers, Jean-Pierre Perreault and Julia Sasso, to create two duets for Shaub and Natalie Morin to share the same set. Perreault's work, E.M.F. (nothing to do with the pop group), features the duo and a suitcase. The other, called exitwound, is about the pain of a relationship gone bad. If the rehearsal I attended is any indication, Duplex is definitely worth a visit.
Victoria runs to Feb. 27 and Mar. 36, 8pm, at Agora de la danse, $18 or $12 for students. Duplex is presented this weekend, Feb. 2527, 8pm, at Centre Calixa-Lavallée, $12
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A 90-year-old woman, a wheelchair, an orderly and Alzheimer's disease. These disparate ingredients swirl and meld together to form Victoria, the newest theatrical concoction by choreographer Dulcinea Langfelder.