Jan 11
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Holy Body Tattoo Returns to Collaborate with GY!BE
Holy Body Tattoo Returns to Collaborate with GY!BE
Vancouver dance troupe Holy Body Tattoo was internationally recognized when they went on hiatus in 2005. Since 1992, choreographers Noam Gagnon and Dana Gingras worked with Voivod composer Jean-Yves Thériault to produce frenetic and fierce shows that made use of multiple art forms, including cinema, music, visual art, and of course dance. Perhaps the nine dancers of the troupe are perhaps best…
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Tour Life
Last week I returned to Montreal for rehearsals to remount Heart as Arena choreographed by Dana Gingras/Animals of Distinction. I am one of five performers in the work and it is one of my favorite works to perform.
This week we perform the show in Quebec with presentations in Sherbrooke and Quebec City. As it will be my first time in Quebec City I am particularly excited to finally visit a city that I have been curious about for quite some time.
That's one of the perks I enjoy about touring-the travel. Although touring is hard work and not always always glamorous experience it has given me the chance to see so much of Canada that I might not otherwise consider or know about. Canada is a big country, right? This means sometimes it's cheaper to book a flight to Paris instead of Toronto.
So this is trip is Part One of Two. Since I've started working with Dana and AOD Montreal has easily become one of my favorite cities. After this trip I'll return again in June for a week to check out Festival Transameriques.
Basically, in a nutshell, j'adore Montreal. More posts to come.
Dana Gingras/Animals of Distinction
What's mine is yours: Two people locked in bitter mouth-to-mouth combat. Created especially for Let Them Eat LACMA a year long investigation of food, art, culture and politics.
New Animal, 605 Collective choreographed by Dana Gingras
I wonder if M.I.A. is getting enough residuals. The maniacal pulse of "Born Free" seems to be popular with dancers and choreographers who are looking for a little something to rile up a vortex on stage. I feel like I've heard and seen this moment over and over again in the past year, when suddenly the entire room is thrown under the track of this song and the lights throb and the dancers throb and then suddenly, the show is over.
To be clear: I don't like this moment. It's the THX experience of contemporary dance, and it destroys the possibility for all other reverberations.
In general, 605 Collective's New Animal was overshadowed by its sound design and lens media. The score by Roger Tellier-Craig was atmospheric and hard, and matched the lens work by Yannick Grandmont; but when it came to the live performance, the shift into indie favorites drooped and waned. Choreographed by Dana Gingras, New Animal was not the best example of what I had in mind for a Gingras work or a 605 Collective work for that matter. The hard edge of Gingras never seems to reconcile with the upbeat sensibility of the collective, and the result is a work that does neither of them justice.
The main weakness in the work is the anthropomorphic element remains under considered as the dancers get stuck in the realm of mimicry with sniffs and scratches. The idea to unleash the animal inside in order to become fully human is a flawed premise from the get-go. The collapse of human and animal is never addressed as the caricaturization of animal never moved beyond an idea of animal.
As the swift physicality toiled on with gestures of animal behavior from pack mentality and submission/domination role playing, I kept waiting for a moment or action to shift the work into another gear of representation. Some good images appeared: two mounds of bodies, the lemons, fur man, and the use of five bodies against the four sides of the floor square were promising, but these moments never fully realize into anything more than flashes of scenes from a dog park.
Who does shine long after the citrus scent cleared was the lens work of Yannick Grandmont. As a Montreal-based photographer best known for his portrayals of music and underground culture, Grandmont's work on New Animal is some of the best dance photography I've ever seen.
As an image, as a concept, the footage of the five dancers sucking, chewing, sharing, and ripping apart lemons with unbridled hunger was the strongest element of the work. Drawing a parallel to Gingras' own dogs fighting over slobbery raw hides, the sequence on film works because of the editing, of both image and sound, into footage that is sensual, hilarious, and enigmatic.
Unfortunately, the action on screen was more visceral than anything experienced in the live contrast. The playfulness of the characters and the distinction of character was lost from screen to stage. Actions appeared to move inward as if performance took a backseat to the process of playing animal. The only dancer that did not appear like he was still in an acting exercise to "become animal" was David Raymond. His movements were the most relaxed and his projections the strongest on film and stage, a trait possibly carried over from Out Innerspace where he has moved fluidly between dancing on stage and screen. I did keep wondering whether a dance for film version of New Animal would have been a far better idea. The trailer would suggest so.
As the first time 605 has let in an outside choreographer, albeit a choreographer who already works with the individual members, the Collective appears willing to explore the limits of their capacity as a troupe since first forming in 2006. Composed of the core trio and former room mates Lisa Gelley, Shay Kuebler and Josh Martin (with guests Amber Funk Barton and Raymond for this production), 605 Collective continues on their path of constant collaboration with no fear or regret. I'll be curious to see what else they keep developing and how they will keep growing and surviving.
All image credits: Yannick Grandmont 2012
New Animal runs until February 11 at The Cultch. Click through for more information