I ushered for The Roundhouse for the Vancouver International Dance Festival last night. I like the Roundhouse, the venue, the staff and in this case the presenter.
It was a long shift but worth it all in all, I mainly signed up to see Sarah Williams, who I remembered from Lee Eisler's JumpStart very fondly. I found that I would also be seeing Toronto Dance Theatre and Arts Umbrella Dance Company.
Arts Umbrella Dance Company, very young, as is to be expected from an Arts Umbrella company (A not-for-profit society for visual and performing arts for children based in Vancouver). I wasn't able to see them all that well as I was still doing door as people drifted in and out of the "free" (if you bought a $3.00 membership) performance (a good deal by the way and there are number of performances/companies to come. Check out the VIDF website under Performances>Cabaret Stage Performances for more details). What I could see was enough to make me want to go back tonight and take a proper look.
Toronto Dance Theatre doing Chiasmata was the unexpected treat of the evening. I have seen them in the past at this festival and liked them then too. Great dancers, great choreography and great music/soundscape. Amazing movement and emotional range, it captured me fully and completely. I'd say catch it if you can there is one more performance tonight (08/03/2008).
The Sarah Williams from Eisler's JumpStart, was not the Sarah Williams that we got, not a bad thing but it took awhile to get used to. In fact, I was feeling disappointed until I shook off the old memories and tried to see her fresh. Three pieces: "croque-monsieur"; "Patty.Tania.Paige.
"; and "Glossy Poupée Says Can She
".
croque-monsieur I saw the least of, once again working the door and getting latecomers in, this is where I started to feel disappointment were conceptual and performance art oriented not the highly athletic physicality of my memory.
Patty.Tania.Paige.
I managed to get seated for this piece and while I thought the conceit was clever, the idea of identity changing and the ways in which that change connected or was driven by a person's public persona. Was Patty Hearst an heiress, a kidnap victim, a revolutionary, an FBI victim, a convicted felon, a wife, a sex addict? Or all and more. What did not work for me at first at least, was how the movement informed the idea.
Glossy Poupée Says Can She
This is were it clicked for me. Glossy Poupée reminded me of the bars and the women that worked in them from my bad old days. Rough side of town, exploitation without shame, fetishized pornography, fear. A parodied pornographic photo shoot that cut very close to the bone; a compelling look at the pain of a woman as she is made an object. With all the echoes of the disappeared women of the DTES and the murderous appetite of Robert Pickton.
Disturbing. One more performance. Might not be what you like but it might be what you need.
