Out of the woodwork

>> Martin Bernier carves himself a place in the dance world

by MARITES CARINO

Over his 37 years, he's travelled a winding road from diving, psychology, travelling in Asia, nursing, and cabinet making, but one thing that's been a constant in Martin Bernier's life is dance.

"Each time I leave dance and try to do something complicated, it changes my inspiration, and I don't know if I'll ever be in the dance world again," says this choreographer-dancer during a phone interview.

"I wasn't satisfied with interpretation and I wanted to go and develop a new kind of creativity," says Bernier. That's when he put everything on hold and took time off to take up cabinet making. "I've always liked to work with concrete material because dance is very ephemeral."

But he came back. And now, after years of dancing for other companies, such as Montréal Danse, leaving dance for woodworking gave Bernier the confidence to embark on a solo creation. "Learning woodworking was great because I realized that I had the talent to make a creation from beginning to end with concrete material. In the dance world, I had so many inhibitions in showing my work and then I realized I had more strength than I thought."

Now Bernier is creating and dancing for himself in his half-hour solo entitled Cruel Mystère. The work evolved over two years and was inspired by Marcel Proust's À La recherche du temps perdu. The book's many layers and metaphors are reflected in the set. Copper and metal, (and strangely, no wooden) structures create physical spaces that are metaphors for Bernier's inner emotional landscape.

"Choreography is something that brings all my experiences into one creation and I find that I'm getting to the centre of myself through it," explains Bernier.

Bernier's piece is part of Les Majeurs/Découvertes series at Tangente and choreographer Nancy Leduc shares the bill with her solo La Cavalier Bleue, which was inspired by Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky's work "The Blue Rider." This painting marked an artistic movement at the beginning of the 20th century towards exploration of art's spiritual nature. Like Bernier, Leduc ventures into the self, but what she finds there is a curious female heroine.

Cruel Mystère and La Cavalier Bleue at Tangente (840 Cherrier) Dec. 6-8, 8:30pm, Dec. 9, 7:30pm, $13-15, 525-1500