Foresight into Forsythe

>> Local transplanted dance diva on the ups and downs of dancing to stay out of jail

by MARITES CARINO

"I make art and I do it when it's pissing rain or when it's sunny. Am I better off for it? Fucked if I know," says choreographer/dancer Tammy Forsythe over the phone while chowing down on spaghetti after rehearsal. She's talking about her new work, Red Lion, which was created during some rough times in the artist's life.

Forsythe has recently come back to Montreal from a three-week residency in Regina, where she was offered a residency by Saskatchewan's New Dance Horizons. And what came out of it was the 55-minute Red Lion, which makes its Montreal premiere at Tangente this week.

Three years ago, Forsythe was working on a solo, which dealt with the loss she had experienced and dealt with in her life. Now that solo has developed into a quartet which begins and ends with a solo by Forsythe. Red Lion deals with her "ongoing theme of mortality," she says. Dancers Leanne Dyer, Erin Flynn and Krista Solheim join Forsythe on stage for this exploration.

Upside-down girl

Forsythe's works use video, text, humour and, this time round, drawing. "I started drawing and a figure came through," says Forsythe. "Then I had a character: the Up-Down girl, a girl who's sometimes up and sometimes down and I felt that I could do anything with it." And this is how she ended up playing the up-and-down character in Red Lion.

"In a review [a journalist] was calling me a visual artist and that was making me nervous. I make whatever comes out. It can be a blessing or a curse," she laughs. "I'm super proud of this piece. It'll make you laugh and cry--and it's got that Maritime splash," Forsythe says, putting on a Nova Scotian lilt.

It's been 13 years since Forsythe ditched her small-town life in Coldbrook, Nova Scotia to pursue dance at Concordia University. Since then, she's been a prolific choreographer, making a splash with Buoy at the Festival International de Nouvelle Danse in 1995. Called punk and post-punk, Forsythe has a style of her own.

She says that dance is a necessity that feeds her hunger and keeps her sane. "I dance to keep me out of jail, to keep me off the streets. I have to do this. I've said it before, that I don't think dance is very accessible to the mainstream, but I don't care about that anymore. It used to upset me. But I don't want to spend any energy in fixing that part of the world--I'm just going to continue making my work."

Dance odds and ends

Spain's Noche Flamenco heats up the autumn night this week with a spectacle of music, song and dance at Kola Note (5240 Parc), Friday, Nov. 3 to Sunday, Nov. 5. Info: 274-9339. And circle Nov. 10-11 on your calendar for CJ8, a choreographic cultural exchange between Canada and Japan where Canadian choreographers work with Japanese dancers and vice versa (look out for the work by Vancouver's Holy Body Tattoo). In the Cinquième Salle in Place des Arts (175 Ste-Catherine W.), 8 p.m., $15-25.

Red Lion at Tangente (840 Cherrier), Nov 9-11 at 8pm and Nov 12 at 7:30pm, $13-15; Call 525-5584 for info