Back in time

Circus arts, anti-dance dance and other mayhem of 2001

by MARITES CARINO

It’s been one of those years: images of dance shows I’ve seen have blurred into a tangle of TV static. But when I attempt to conjure up visions of what struck me the most in Montreal’s 2001 dance scene, here’s what pops up on my internal screen:
Back in May, French wizard choreographer/filmmaker Philippe Decouflé made people rise to their feet with Shazam! I often think back to this show because of its wit and its theme of viewing the world through dance, the circus arts and film. Despite a small technical glitch during the performance I attended, the nine members of Decouflé’s group La Compagnie DCA amazed all with their grace, humour and skill, while the three musicians in the orchestra pit provided a beautiful soundscape to this show that cleverly juxtaposed reality and illusion.
A dance drought followed through the summer months as things revved up for the biennial Festival International de Nouvelle Danse (FIND). That meant September and October were jam-packed with dance shows galore.
As the festival opener, French choreographer Jérome Bell’s The Show Must Go On made a splash at the Monument National and elicited a loved-it or hated-it public reaction. This was the first time I felt like I was at a hockey match instead of a dance show. The woman beside me removed her shoes and was hissing and booing at the stage, people were singing along and waving their lighters to Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence,” and some left in the middle of the spectator chaos, after having paid a pretty penny for tickets. People say it wasn’t dance, but, hey, we saw the “Macarena” in its entirety, and you can never imagine what went on to Lionel Ritchie’s ’80’s song “Ballerina Girl.” The show had a soundtrack of pop hits, with a sound-teckie front-stage, center, manually changing the discs for the 18 performers (obviously not all dancers) who provided the visual accompaniment to the music. Then pop diva Céline Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” piped through the speakers and the crowd almost lost it when dancers reenacted the “I’m the king of the world moment” at the bow of the Titanic. To end it all, they left us with The Police’s “I’ll Be Watching You.” Here dancers stood in a line, still, at the lip of the stage staring blankly out into the audience, implying that the hour-and-a-half show had been more about the audience’s reactions than the action on stage.

Raw power
Another significant work that left its mark during the festival was Le Cri du monde by local choreographer Marie Chouinard. After seeing the 40-minute piece, I had to sit outside Place des Arts alone in order to decompress and absorb the spectacle I had just witnessed. Compared to other shows I had taken in that week, the work was free of gimmicks and clutter. Le Cri du monde emanated pure dance, with the power and strength of the nine dancers’ bodies and voices culminating in an incredible solo by Luciane Pinto. The Chouinard show was runner-up for the Prix du Publique, awarded by the FIND, where British choreographer Russell Maliphant took first honours.
On a more intimate note, Toronto choreographer-dancer Sarah Chase drew in and enveloped the audiences at Tangente with her touching autobiographical choreographies involving narration through dance. Tunnelling through her childhood memories, Chase’s program featured Muzz, a story about meeting her great-grandmother for the first time, and Lamont Earth Observatory, based on memories of her father’s scientific research on beaches.
Most recently, Suites, by soon-to-be-defunct French duo Compagnie Schmid et Pernette, really struck a chord with me. Based on the emotionally-charged diaries of ballet legend Vaslav Nijinski, choreographer Nathalie Pernette and partner Andréas Schmid cultivated an ambience of instability and pandemonium in this piece. Schmid designed the set and two on-stage pianists let loose not only at the piano, but joined in the on-stage dancing mayhem. Well, that was dance past, see you in 2002! <<