Euro Splash

>> Les Grands Européens comes to town

by MARITES CARINO

Now's your chance to see works by three world class contemporary choreographers all in one sitting. If you missed Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato's Compania Nacional de Danza when they breezed through Montreal last fall, all is not lost. Part of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens' program is the series Les Grands Européens, which features choreographies by Duato, transplanted American William Forsythe and Czech artist Jiri Kylian.

Duato's work Without Words takes its title from a duet for violin and piano by Franz Schubert. Playing with themes of love and death, the work features beautiful pas-de-deux work and highlights Duato's creativity. However, this is the only Duato choreography I've seen which is not set to Spanish music, which may explain why it lacks the same intense levels of passion and emotion of his other works. Nevertheless, it's worth your while.

Also on the evening's program is Forsythe's Approximate Sonata, which uses the pas-de-deux form as well. And the closing piece is Kylian's Symphony of Psalms, which premiered almost two decades ago.

Also this week, just back from a tour in France and finally making its English debut is Dulcinia Langfelder's Victoria. It's a tale of a sweet woman stricken with Alzheimer's disease and confined to a wheelchair. In this theatre-dance piece, Langfelder dances, cracks jokes and zips around while doing the occasional pop-a-wheelie. It was superb in French, and it will be interesting to see how the work translates. Don't miss it.

Finally, if improvisational dance intrigues you, check out Fragile this weekend at Usine C. Improv and contact dance master Andrew de L. Harwood is joined by seven other movers and shakers in this delicate production. :

Les Grands Européens at Place des Arts, May 11-13 and May 18-20, 8pm, $20-56. Call 842-2112 for reservations
Fragile at Usine C, May 17-19, 8pm, $12-15. For more info, call 521-4198
Victoria at the Centaur, May 11-14, 8pm, until June 4