I'll be watching you

>> Rachid Ouramdane is the Big Brother of dance

by MARITES CARINO

Pay attention! As we watch, we are being watched. French choreographer Rachid Ouramdane plays with this theme in his work Au bord des métaphores, a collection of improvisations that mixes dance with technology. The creation is part of Les Nuits du grand labo, a series of nocturnal soirées at the Société des Arts et Technologies (SAT) where artists use the concepts of body, sound and image as a base for their pieces.

As I'm interviewing Ouramdane at the SAT, he points out a spying video camera perched high in a corner and a large-screen television in a tavern across Ste-Catherine's, flashing continuous images. "Video technology is invading our space. It's everywhere," he says. "Like in the metro, in the streets or at baseball games."

Ouramdane explains that because we are saturated with images in our day-to-day lives, they lose their impact, so we take them for granted and become desensitized. Through this work, Ouramdane hopes to create a sort of electric shock that will jolt the audience into seeing what hides behind the image. "After people leave the show, I want them to realize that they are being filmed everywhere," he says.

Ouramdane, who began dancing at a young age in France, has only been experimenting with video for four years. Au bord des métaphores uses a row of three large screens onto which video images from six different cameras are projected. In the piece, dancers and videographers record the action on stage using cameras of all kinds, from video and surveillance to digital and even infrared, which has the capability of filming in the dark. And for a different view of the action, some of the dancers have a mini-camera attached to their chest as they move.

Using software, the live images of the dancers are manipulated, morphed and fragmented, creating a juxtaposition of what is projected and what's happening live.

Ouramdane calls Au bord des métaphores an "amoebic" work that has evolved over two years. His company, Fin Novembre, is made up of eight artists from various artistic disciplines. As for the actual dancing, Ouramdane recalls some comments he received during the work's run in Europe last year: "Some people have said to me, 'This isn't dance!' But dance is not only found in the bodies of the dancers, but in the interaction between the dancers and the images."

Stepping outside FIND

As part of Les Journées de la culture, keep an eye out free dance like Teesri Duniya's Fireworks 2001. The choreographer from Mysore, India, performs at the MAI, Sept. 29. That same day, dance space Circuit-Est opens its doors to the public for a rehearsal by Carré des Lombes. After the show, dancers and choreographer Danièle Desnoyers answer questions the public may have. And on Sept. 30, don't be surprised if there's dancing in the aisles during Saturday breakfast in that friendly neighbourhood haunt Dusty's or Les Folies on Mont-Royal. It's all part of Les Journées de la culture festivities.

Au bord des métaphores at the SAT, Sept. 27-30, 9pm, $10, 524-0666 Les Journées de la culture Sept. 28-30, at various locations, free