Anatomie d’un souffle

2016

World premiereat Maison symphonique de Montréal in May 2016

You enter a musical world, sensitive to the beauty of sound, to the beat, to the breath of melody, to the dread generated by masses of sound in their darkest vibrations. Then you lose yourself in that anatomy that gets dissected, that gets manipulated, like a garment whose structure is under examination. As though, at the end of the day, the music became that garment, which will be worn with confidence, joy or melancholy.

The choreographic language that emerges from the new work Anatomie d’un souffle does not mold itself to the musical structures but rather responds to them, engages in dialogue with them, weaves a network of encounters that may, at times, seem counterintuitive.

The project makes light of clichés and conventions, sometimes endorsing them with humor or a dash of impertinence. What could become a series of physical performances of the music becomes here a relational game in which the presence of the performers reveals the depth of their own experience in the face of the music.

A formal, abstract language is linked to a dream world that feeds on the imagery kindled or provoked by the music. Rapture of joy, glorious body, and liberty are terms drawn straight from the titles of musical works and which, when assembled, constitute a compendium of communal meaning.

The body exists by way of its relationship with the world. Dance becomes the reflection of the tensions of that world. It joins speed, virtuosity and energy to powerful desires, to a need for abandon. A body language in motion, both natural and complex, is exhibited by seven dancers, emblematic figures of a society in search of points of reference.

The choreographic score for the work by Sweelinck is dedicated to the memory of Jean-Pierre Perreault.

This Carré des Lombes creation is co-produced with Danse Danse and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, in collaboration with the Dance Department at UQAM.

Credits

Artistic director & choreographer

Danièle Desnoyers

OSM organist in résidence

Jean-Willy Kunz

Original music

John Rea

Additional music

Buxtehude, Raffaele Manari, Olivier Messiaen, Arvo Pärt, Jan P. Sweelinck

Rehearsal Direction

Emmanuelle Bourassa Beaudoin

Lighting

Marc Parent

Costumes

Angelo Barsetti en collaboration avec Marianne Thériault

Makeup & Hairstyle

Angelo Barsetti

Dancers

Karina Champoux, Laurence Dufour, Jean-Benoit Labrecque, Pierre-Marc Ouellette, Nicolas Patry, Clémentine Schindler, Anne Thériault

The chorus of the participants

Levon Arabian, Cristina Birri, Élisabeth-Anne Dorléans, Adèle Dussault-Gagné, Marie Fulconis, Christine Heyraud, Laurence Lapierre, Jérémy Paquette, Laetitia Philantrope, Adam Provencher