Last night I saw bODY_rEMIX/gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS at the Hummingbird.
The ten dancers used crutches, horizontal dance bars, prostheses, ropes, and even a skateboard. Sensual, alarming, and very sexy too - one couple, suspended from the ceiling, in particular. If you're into bondage this is was show for you. When, later in the performance, one of the dancers just walked around the stage "normally" it looked startlingly odd.
Obviously with dancers restrained in various ways the sense of movement was very different from most dance, but it was very fluid too as individuals partnered, danced in groups, and performed solo. The constraints showed how fragile our bodies can be, how dependant on one-another we are. One male soloist was "controlled" by a zany outtake from the Variations, jerking around all over the place until exhausted. We shared his sense of dread as to where the music would take him next.
And then there was the voice of Glenn Gould, slowed down and sounding more sinister than Darth Vader. Sometimes it just growled, incoherent and menacing, like something in a distant jungle at night. And there were sampled bits of Bach's 'Goldberg Variations' that were unrecognizable really, but as poignant as some of the movements on stage.
Two acts - 45 minutes and 40 minutes. But you know you've experienced something wonderful when it seems like no time at all, and timeless, all at the same time.
And an all star audience including Karen Kain and, omigod, the ultra-comely Guillaume Cote.
