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In a thousand pieces >> Irène Stamou puts together a dance mosaic for the millennium
by MARITES CARINO
Stamou sits down, realizing that it was almost exactly a year ago that she held auditions for her newest work Mosaic for Millennia. The audition was an overwhelming experience because over 100 hopefuls turned up at the studio. Originally, she was looking for two dancers, but ended up choosing a sextet of women. In past choreographies, Stamou has concocted mainly solos or duets. To date, Mosaic for Millennia is her largest group piece and deals with the theme of cultural mosaics. The dancers themselves constitute a Canadian mosaic, hailing from Quebec, Belgium, Ottawa and Vancouver. "I needed to express something more communal," Stamou says, who was born in Greece and moved to Montreal at the age of six. "And the only way to do that would be if I had a community of dancers. I wanted to celebrate those differences, share and communicate them."
Material world It's not just the dancers that form the pieces of this kaleidoscopic work; there's a community of collaborators behind the scenes. The original music is from electro acoustic composer Ned Bouhalassa, who was inspired by the dancers themselves and in turn churned out an abundance of material for Stamou. The soundtrack fuses urgent techno beats with traditional Mediterranean melodies. Stamou has always had a fascination with fabrics, as her mother was a seamstress. For this production, she went all out for the costumes, which really create the set. Designer Helen Rainbird whipped up a stunning array of brightly dyed silks, chiffons, linens and knits, which trail behind the dancers' movements and breathe life into the stage's otherwise barren canvas. And to add to the palette, dancers are crowned with ornate, flowing headresses designed by Elaheh Mottahedeh. The action takes place under a Mediterranean glow ignited by Caroline Ross. "They work as a team. It's the first time that everyone is working together and there are no big divas," says Stamou, making flamboyant arm flourishes. "I feel like I've evolved a lot through this piece. The process has involved working with different artists of different backgrounds, and being inspired by each other to go further." The work itself consists of mini-choreographies, all under five minutes, and features a soloist and a quintet. Also on the evening's program is Devouring Muses, a commissioned work created by Stamou three years ago, which is set to an operatic rendition of a Greek poem penned by Stamou herself. Muses was originally created as a duet for two men, but she's recast the roles to Mark Eden-Towle and dancer Joe Hiscott. Sadly, because of the technicians' strike at Place des Arts, Stamou will have to take a raincheck on her much-anticipated PdA debut. The show has been shifted to the more intimate Alfred-Laliberté theatre on the UQAM campus.
FIND presents Mosaic for Millennia, Oct. 5 & 6 at Studio-Théatre Alfred-Laliberté (405 Ste-Catherine), 7pm, $15-25 |
It's 2:10 and I'm in a café waiting for choreographer Irène Stamou, and beginning to wonder if our rendez-vous was for douze heures, and not deux heures. Thankfully, she arrives soon after this panicked thought, and I breathe a sigh of relief.