Montréal
Creative Convergence
By Philip Szporer “Lifelines” Gioconda Barbuto, Emily Molnar, Michael SlobodianExpectations were high. Gioconda Barbuto and Emily Molnar are both celebrated dancers and have the kinds of credentials most artists dream about.
Posted February 2, 2008
An Intuitive Connection
By Philip Szporer “Confort à retardement” John Ottman, France Geoffroy, Corpuscule Danse“Confort à retardement” is John Ottman’s choreography created for France Geoffroy, a dancer and choreographer gaining recognition in Canada and abroad. The fact that Geoffroy is paraplegic defines the production, produced by her company Corpuscule Danse.
Posted December 23, 2007
New Hybrid Equations
By Lys Stevens “Sit back ya’ll”, “pi.r.squared”, “Text Messaging…” Julia Gutsik, Raul Guevara, 4EverFresh, Rebecca Halls, Arcus Intorchao Hula Hoop Duo, Patricia IraolaGénération bigarrée: a new title for a favourite series within Tangente’s programming. What does this new name suggest? Formerly Danses urbaines (an ambiguous title that became politicized as some artists resisted the fit), this series highlights artists working with high-energy movement forms referencing youth culture.
Posted November 18, 2007
A Missed Opportunity
By Philip Szporer “Décompte” Zab Maboungou, Compagnie Danse Nyata NyataIt’s not surprising to report that Zab Maboungou, the Congo-raised Montréal-based dancer-choreographer and philosopher, has devotees who speak about the transformative effects of her dance.
Posted October 27, 2007
A Certain Selection of Dance
By Philip Szporer, Marie Claire Forté Festival TransAmériques Festival TransAmériquesThis May marked the inaugural program of the Montréal-based dance and theatre event, Festival TransAmériques. To cover the dance programming at this year’s premiere event, The Dance Current invited writers Marie Claire Forté (Ottawa) and Philip Szporer (Montréal) to exchange their views in an e-mail conversation. Here are their evocative and emphatic impressions.
Posted June 21, 2007
Dance As a Metre of the Times
By Philip Szporer "Amjad" Édouard LockÉdouard Lock’s new revisionist ballet, Amjad, has a way of messing with our heads. Those who mistakenly expect that Lock’s current choreography draws on the signature barrel turns and the sexual ambiguity of his work in the 1980s will be sorely disappointed. And for those interested to see how he has continued his exploration of the classics of the ballet repertoire, there will be expectation.
Posted May 19, 2007
Reconnections
By Philip Szporer A mixed progam by Gaétan Gingras Gaétan GingrasIroquois-Mohawk by ancestry, but cut off from his roots for most of his life, at fourteen Gaétan Gingras learned that his maternal grandparents were aboriginal. The truth had been hidden for many years.
Posted March 24, 2007
Keeping It Real at 48
By Michèle Moss Mixed program by Louise Lecavalier Louise LecavalierSeeing Louise Lecavalier dance is a trip of sorts: a fairground ride through time and space, a wonderland tour across a history of body politics and the ideals of nationalism, the excess of the 1980s, the exuberance of the 1990s.
Posted February 24, 2007
An Unwieldy Opus
By Philip Szporer “Bas-reliefs” Marie-Josée ChartierIt all began from a fascination with pioneering visual artist Betty Goodwin’s “Swimmers” series from the 1980s. From this source, in which Goodwin drew, using graphite, charcoal and oil pastels, on a kind of translucent paper, dancer-choreographer Marie-Josée Chartier conceived a multi-disciplinary mega-production, “Bas reliefs: un dyptique”.
Posted December 30, 2006
Doubles territoires 2/Split Stage 2
By Philip Szporer New works by Peter Trosztmer and Ségolène Marchand Peter Trosztmer, Ségolène MarchandThe performance began outside the theatre. Conceptual pieces of printed, bent metal stuck on wooden planks were suspended along the corridor walls leading to the theatre. Inside, bent bicycles in tormented shapes hung from the walls and ceiling.
Posted December 10, 2006
Artist and Critic in [Virtual] Dialogue
By Philip Szporer, Pamela Newell “Being Susan Sontag” Pamela NewellA conversation between critic Philip Szporer and choreographer Pamela Newell about her recent work “Being Susan Sontag”. With all due respect, they didn’t hold back.
Posted December 3, 2006Meditative Abstraction
By Jill Goldberg "Anatomies" José Navas, Compagnie FlakDancers in nothing but boy-shorts, minimalist lighting, an empty stage. Much has been made of José Navas’ transition from a choreographer who crafts dance with a theatrical aesthetic to a more mature artist whose work is subtle, even ascetic.
Posted November 29, 2006
Two Takes on the Same Show
By Philip Szporer, Lys Stevens “Take it Back” Solid StateSolid State’s new work, “Take it Back”, is a dance that crosses boundaries, re-sourcing the language of hip hop and the Lindy, presenting elements of street dance and swing in a theatrical setting.
Posted November 12, 2006
A Flamenco Transposition
By Philip Szporer “Azafran Or Rouge” Ballet Flamenco Arte de EspañaWhat happens when a Québécois play is transposed into the language of flamenco? For Laura Lynne McGee, the result is “Azafran Or Rouge”. The latest show by Montréal’s Ballet Flamenco Arte de España, “Azafran Or Rouge” recently played the long and narrow Club Soda nightclub, a renconverted old movie house with floor and balcony seating, that these days mainly books music concerts.
Posted October 5, 2006
Intersections, Overcrossings
By Philip Szporer “The Part” Antonija Livingstone, Edgy Women International FestivalLean, bleached-blond, with legs that go on and on, Antonija Livingstone cuts a striking figure. The Part is a work that she’s currently touring.
Posted March 31, 2006
The Sight (Site) of Motion
By Philip Szporer "Vortex 1"Van Grimde Corps Secret’s latest production, “Vortex 1”, is just the latest in a series of Montréal dance concerts that have featured live musicians onstage, and in close proximity to the audience.
Posted March 11, 2006
Rhythmic Confrontation
By Philip Szporer “Exit” Dominique Porte, Système DConfrontational and contained, Dominique Porte’s Exit, features music compositions by four Canadian composers – James Harley, Nicolas Gilbert, Michael Oesterle and Howard Bashaw – with Véronique Lacroix of the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal directing the live performances of percussionist Philip Hornsley and pianist Pamela Reimer.
Posted February 19, 2006
Pushing Past the Comfort Zone
By Philip Szporer “Lost Pigeons” David Pressault DanseFor David Pressault’s Danse-Cité production, “Lost Pigeons”, the dancer-choreographer uses the symbol of the sexy pigeon as his central image to probe today’s lost generation of lovers who see relationships slipping away.
Posted February 18, 2006
Moments Apart, Together
By Philip Szporer “Au coeur de l’inconnu/At The Heart of The Unknown” Andrew de L. Harwood, Kirstie SimsonA couple of comments linger long after watching the performance of Andrew de Lotbinère Harwood and Kirstie Simson, both accomplished dancer/improvisers. Prior to attending the concert, which occurred during the recent CORD (Congress on Research in Dance) conference in Montréal, one of the speakers, an academic from the United States, asked what was playing in town that night, and I mentioned the show at Studio 303. Her response was curt: “Oh, is [Harwood] still doing that?” That not-so-gentle put-down was countered by a woman who exited the show, remarking, “[Simson] has managed to take him far beyond what he normally does.”
Posted November 30, 2005
Physical Resonance
By Philip Szporer “Play It Again!” Danièle Desnoyers, Le Carré des LombesDanièle Desnoyers’ new work, “Play It Again!”, is detached from narrative. Well mostly: there’s the resonance of tough guy Humphrey Bogart’s famous line in the film classic Casablanca, indelibly linked to tinkling the ivories.
Posted October 30, 2005
