Preview
RUNNING WILD
The Holy Body Tattoo
Choreographed by Dana Gingras and Noam Gagnon
Presented by Dancers’ Studio West
December 9 to 11
Dancers’ Studio West
(2007 - 10th Ave. S.W.)
It’s been seven years since Vancouver’s The Holy Body Tattoo visited Calgary on its international tour of Our Brief Eternity, and they’ve been sadly missed. After a decade of creating arresting, innovative performances like Circa, Poetry and Apocalypse and the upcoming Monumental, it’s nice to know they’re Running Wild again this week at Dancers’ Studio West.
For those who haven’t been "tattooed," this is a company that often breaks through contemporary dance into sensory-driven, multimedia explorations of pop culture and human consciousness. It’s a mission that often keeps artistic directors Dana Gingras and Noam Gagnon on the hip hop themselves, and while the company has received international acclaim from audiences of all ages, its work seems to resonate most with youth.
"We try to connect to an urban sense," says Gingras, "at a speed and at a pace where society is at, and one that is really visceral, direct and uncompromising. You could say we create states – physical states that can be read as psychological – and from that comes forth this language, born out of the body, with all the experiences we carry."
Plugging into urban culture is an extension of Gingras’s own love for film, literature and music (sometimes, she devilishly admits, more than for dance). Running Wild is no exception. Inspired by a song on the Tindersticks’ last album, The Holy Body Tattoo commissioned the hit British band to create an extended instrumental version for their production, while expanding the usual one-track soundscape into an electronically enhanced, who’s who medley of other musical flavours, including Montreal’s Fly PanAm.
In place of the company’s usual multimedia elements, Running Wild instead is a visually scaled-down series of vignettes (three duets and two solos) driven by the theme of desire. As Gingras points out, the minimalist elements are paramount to that theme; unsupported by the usual backdrops, the dancers are able to portray rawness, honesty and nuance.
"It’s really about connecting, passing and finding refuge in one another," says Gingras. "I think everyday action can be broken down to push and pull, and within that push and pull, there is desire. Here it comes out in any number of forms – how we want to consume or be consumed, how our will drives us, or how we surrender to chaos when it’s bigger than ourselves. It could be that what we desire doesn’t even exist, but it keeps us going."
Along with choreographing, Gingras and Gagnon both take the stage to join guest dancers Day Helesic and Blair Neufeld for this production. Since the show’s première in May, the company’s been running wild too, touring it across Canada while paving the way for a spring tour of Monumental. Considering The Holy Body’s Tattoo’s usual focus on long-term development of each new work, two productions in one year is a rarity, but it’s also a sign of the company’s growing popularity.
"For us it’s all about creating from one place," says Gingras. "The body has a story to tell, and it doesn’t forget." |
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