Triptyque - Program

Nov 15 – 19, 2017 bluma appel Theatre

triptyque

by

C R E ATE D & D I R EC TE D BY

I N V ITE D C H O R EO G R A P H E R S

SA M U E L TÉ TR E AU LT

M A R I E C H O U I N A R D + VI C TO R Q U I JA DA + M A RCOS M O R AU

A The 7 Fingers production

17.18 Season Sponsor

With the support of

Dance Programming Supporter

Hal Jackman Foundation

performers

C H O R EO G R A P H Y CO LL A B O R ATI O N

Anne Plamondon Kyra Jean Green (3)

Joaquim Ciocca Marie-Ève Dicaire Geneviève Drolet Kyra Jean Green Franklin Luy Nicolas Montes de Oca Anne Plamondon Samuel Tétreault

TEC H N I C A L D R AWI N G

Michel Lamy

(3)

M A K E - U P CO N S U LTA NT

Joffrey Dumas

(3)

FI S H H E A DS D E S I G N

Mathieu René

(3)

S TAG E M A N AG E R

Camille Labelle

creative team

P RO D U C TI O N D I R EC TO R & TEC H N I C A L CO O R D I N ATO R

A RTI S TI C D I R EC TI O N

Chloé Rondeau

Samuel Tétreault CH O R EOG R AP H Y & STAG I N G

TEC H N I C A L D I R EC TO R & TEC H N I C A L E N G I N E E R A DVI SO R

( 1) A n n e & S a m u e l

Pierre Massé

Marie Chouinard

R ehearsal D irector

Isabelle Poirier ( 1)

(2) Va r iati o n s 9 . 81

Victor Quijada

touring team

(3) N o c t u r n e s

TO U R M A N AG E R

Marcos Morau Isabelle Chassé Samuel Tétreault

Marie-Christine Martel TECHNICAL DIRECTOR & SOUND OPERATOR

Peter Balov

SET DESIGN

Marie Chouinard ( 1) Cloé Alain-Gendreau

LI G HTI N G S U P E RVI SO R (2 , 3)

Liz Vandal ( 1) Camilla Thibault-Bedard LI G HTI N G D E S I G N

Yan Lee Chan

Claude Houle RIGGER

COS T U M E D E S I G N

Félix Page (2 , 3)

Run time: 2 hours, including an intermission.

Isabelle Hanikamu ( 1)

Please note the use of cameras and recording devices during performances is strictly prohibited. As a courtesy to artists and audiences, latecomers will be seated at an appropriate break in the performance, if possible.

This project was an open invitation from Daniel Soulière (Danse-Cité).

Co Producers : Sadler’s Wells (London), Thomas Lightburn (Vancouver), TOHU (Montreal), Albourne (Norwalk), Danse-Cité (Montreal), Les Nuits de Fourvière (Lyon) and Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg.

Creation Residency : Espace Marie Chouinard & TOHU General Director, The 7 Fingers: Nassib El-Husseini Media Relations: Suzanne Cheriton, red eye media

H A N DS TA N D C A N E D E S I G N

MEDIA SPONSORS

ORIGINAL MUSIC

Louis Dufort ( 1) Jasper Gahunia (2) Nans Bortuzzo (3) K I N BA K U S H I

Samuel Tétreault Jocelyn Legault (2)

artistic & general director’s note When the body becomes the voice, the eyes learn to listen, and the head connects to the heart.

After years, nay decades, of watching contemporary dance and contemporary circus, this is the greatest lesson - and the greatest gift - I have received. Watch Marie Chouinard’s two magnificent dancers navigate the world with both the constraints and the freedom offered by their wooden appendages; see Victor Quijada’s troupe perched perilously atop their minuscule totems; marvel at Marcos Morau’s oneiric, devastatingly beautiful universe, floating mid-air. These are experiences shared with us because bodies are speaking, resonating, offering us the poetry of their flesh which no words could express.

Samuel Tétreault and his circus company made an inspired choice in approaching three choreographers to bring their worlds together for yet another unprecedented adventure. Being here tonight, you are now part of it.

Listen carefully with your eyes, and your head will grow closer to your heart!

Matthew Jocelyn Artistic & General Director, Canadian Stage

creator’s notes As a young adolescent I fell in love with the circus arts and entered an intensive training period at the National Circus School of Montreal. But soon enough, as I took my first steps in the artistic universe, I also developed a passion for contemporary dance. At the age of 17, astonished and inspired by the works of Louise Lecavalier in La La La Human Steps, Baryshnikov’s interpretation of Le Jeune Homme et la mort and Marie Chouinard’s Rite of Spring, I even considered dropping out of circus school to pursue a dance career. Still today, despite 25 years as a hand balancer perfecting the art of immobility, my fascination for dance and the art of movement hasn’t left me.

I always feel an insatiable desire to move and exult through dance… perhaps the antithesis necessary to my continuous journey with stillness and perfect balance.

The creation of Triptyque is based on encounters. First, the encounter with Danse-Cité’s artistic director Daniel Soulière who invited me to take part in the Traces-interprète’s portion of their 2015 season. A custom-made artistic offer for me, a hand-balancing performer and master of stillness, to join in on a rendez-vous with the art of movement and dance.

An encounter between circus and dance. Several encounters in fact, as this creation is featuring three short pieces resulting from my encounters with the creative universes of three different, exceptional choreographers.

Encounters also with the other artists who share the stage with me… and as with every creation of The 7 Fingers, an encounter with the Other and with the Human within each of us.

Samuel Tétreault Co-Founder of The 7 Fingers

@canadianstage @7doigtsdelamain #csTriptyque #The7Fingers

1

anne & samuel

Looking at the effects of gravity on moving bodies, choreographer Marie Chouinard develops an ambiguous relationship between two beings, a dancer and a hand-balancer, who depend on one another emotionally and physically. Dance is central to this first world.

“I gladly accepted Samuel’s lovely invitation to create a dance duo for him and Anne Plamondon. I suggested that we continue the research I started in 2005 with bODY_rEMIX/gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS. At that point, I had yet to create a man-woman duo in which dancers perform with crutches.

I also wanted to involve Kinbaku, the Japanese art of bondage. Anne willingly entered into the spirit of the game and we so met the wonderful Isabelle Hanikamu. In Anne & Samuel there’s also a nod at SOFT VIRTUOSITY…, a piece I created in 2015.”

Marie Chouinard

2

variations 9.81

A quintet of hand balancers search for absolute control of gravity, testing the relationship between stillness and movement. Pursuing the complex choreographic technique developed through his company RUBBERBANDance Group, Victor Quijada sets the action on a surface pierced by 75 anchor points, allowing up to 21 hand-balancing canes of different lengths to transform the space as they move throughout.

“On Earth, the acceleration of gravity has the value of 9.81 m/s2.

The equilibrist seems to defy the forces that work on the body.

But gravity, like time, is incessant.

As the body rises high, it is at its most vulnerable.

Time moves forward; our stories unfold.

Our intertwining paths pull together and pull apart; And the forces that bind us together are strong, but can be broken.”

Victor Quijada

3

nocturnes

Incorporating various circus disciplines – unicycling, juggling, aerial straps, hand-to-hand - this final piece lures us into the space between wake and dreams, where eight artists try to break free of their physical constraints.

“The piece is a state of mind halfway between dream and reality, similar to the feeling of being conscious in a dream or wandering through reality imagining things that are not really happening…

The meeting and the opposition between the images themselves generate a labyrinthine trace in the spectator’s mind; a dreamlike experience of stumbles and discoveries through the explosive encounter of circus, dance, music and texts; an oneiric voyage in which each individual will find his or her own representations because the purest form of freedom only exists inside the dreams.”

Marcos Morau

Laurence Labat

Samuel Tétreault

Marie Chouinard

SAMUEL TÉTREAULT

Victor Quijada

Marcos Morau

Isabelle Chassé

MARIE CHOUINARD

Artistic Direction / Choreography Choreography, Staging, Set Design & Staging (Nocturnes) / Performer (Anne & Samuel) Born in Montreal, Samuel Tétreault Marie Chouinard is the Executive began training at the National Circus and Artistic Director of COMPAGNIE School of Montreal at age 14. During MARIE CHOUINARD, Founding Chair his seven years as a student, he of the Prix de la Danse de Montréal, an developed a passion not only for the Associate Dance Artist of the Canada’s acrobatics, but also for dance and National Arts Centre, and Director of theatre. Upon graduating in 1996, he Dance at the Venice Biennale. Since started his career as a hand-balancer, its foundation in 1990, COMPAGNIE winning several awards at circus MARIE CHOUINARD has performed festivals, including a Bronze Lion all over the world, and co-produces its at the Wuquio Acrobatic Festival creations with renowned partners such in China and a Silver Medal at the as the Venice Biennale, the ImPulsTanz Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain International Dance Festival, the Théâtre in Paris. After performing over 1500 de la Ville, Festival TransAmériques, and shows of Cirque du Soleil’s Alegria, the NAC. Three of the COMPAGNIE’s touring with Cirque Éloize’s Orchestra, works have been presented at Canadian and appearing in some of the most Stage: Hieronymus Bosch: The Garden of prestigious cabarets in Germany, in Earthly Delights, The Golden Mean (LIVE), 2002, Samuel became one of the and Orpheus and Euridyce. Chouinard’s co-founding artistic directors of pieces also appear in the repertoires The 7 Fingers, the Montreal-based of such major ballet companies as circus collective. With The 7 Fingers, the National Ballet of Canada, the Samuel created and directed Vice & Ballets de Monte-Carlo, the Göteborgs Vertu (2017), Bosch Dreams (2016), Operan and the Gulbenkian Ballet. As Triptyque (2015), Fibonacci Project a multidisciplinary artist, her opus also (2007-2020), and Luces Fugaces includes multimedia works, films and (2014). He also co-directed Intersection music videos, a collection of poems, art (2014), La Vie (2007), and Loft (2002). exhibits and the Iphone app CANTIQUE. He was also a featured artist in Loft, Chouinard has received several awards La Vie, Fibonacci Project, Le Murmure in recognition of her contribution to du Coquelicot, Luces Fugaces, and the arts, including the Bessie Award, Triptyque. Samuel is currently President the Order of Canada, l’Ordre des Arts of En Piste (Canadian National Circus et des Lettres (France), the Samuel Arts Association) and is often asked de Champlain Award, l’Ordre national to speak at conferences and to du Québec, the Governor General’s head workshops at circus schools in Performing Arts Award, the Positano Montreal and Quebec City. He is also “Choreographer of the Year” Award, and involved in research and development the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence with the SSHRC Industrial Chair in in the Performing Arts. The name Circus Arts, in collaboration with key “Marie Chouinard” is a dictionary entry academics and industry leaders. in Le Petit Larousse and in Le Robert.

VICTOR QUIJADA Choreography & Staging (Variations 9.81) A polyvalent, prolific dancer, Victor Quijada moved from the clubs of his hometown of Los Angeles to a career with such acclaimed classical ballet and post-modern dance companies as THARP!, Ballet Tech, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Since founding RUBBERBANDance Group in 2002, he has created more than 24 dance works of varying lengths for RBDG and for outside commissions, and has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe. In 2003, Quijada received the Bonnie Bird North American New Choreography Award and the Peter Darrell Choreographic Award. In 2009, he was awarded the OQAJ/RIDEAU Prize, and in 2010, he received the Princess Grace Foundation Award—Choreography Fellowship.

In 2016, Victor received a second PGFA award: a Works in Progress Residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York.

MARCOS MORAU Choreography & Staging (Nocturnes) Hailing from Valencia, Spain, Marcos Morau studied choreography at the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona, the Conservatorio Superior de Danza de Valencia and Movement Research in New York. In 2005, he created La Veronal, a company formed by artists from the worlds of dance, film, photography and literature, whose vision lies in new media, cultural references, and a strong narrative language. With the intention of forming global art spaces, La Veronal creates unique works inspired by a country or city, creating an analogy between dance and geography. Collaborating with other internationally-renowned companies, Morau and his team have created pieces for the National

Dance Company of Spain, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Skånes Dansteater, Göteborg Operans Danskompani, Ballet de Lorraine, and Carte Blanche Norway, amongst others.

La Veronal’s work has also been presented at the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris, the Biennale di Venezia, Oslo Opera, Julidans Amsterdam, Tanz im August Berlin, Roma Europa Festival, SIDance Festival Seoul, Sadler’s Wells in London and the Internationale Tanzmesse in Düsseldorf. Morau is the recipient of Spain’s National Dance Award, the Sebastià Gasch Award, the Hannover International Choreography Competition, the Madrid Choreographic Competition, Masdanza/International Dance Festival of the Canary Islands, and the “Butaca” Audience Award for the Best Dance Performance for his piece Siena.

ISABELLE CHASSÉ Choreography & Staging (Nocturnes) As co-Artistic Director of The 7 Fingers, Isabelle Chassé co-staged Vice & Vertu (2016), co-directed Loft and La Vie, and was featured in all three shows. She also codirected Reversible (2016), the third piece of Triptyque (2015), Amuse un Dia (2013), participated in The Fibonacci Project and assisted the directors on Psy (2009) and Amuse (2012). Working as an independent artist on many special events, Isabelle created the lighting design for Montreal’s inaugural Vitrine Culturelle, and in 2013, she served on the jury for Quebec’s Conseil des arts et lettres. Isabelle is the aerial coach on most 7 Fingers productions and the link between the artistic directors and administrators of the company. In 2015, she co-directed the acrobatics in Moby Dick, directed by Dominic Champagne.

Anne Plamondon + Samuel Tétreault, photo: Alexandre Galliez

THE 7 FINGERS (LES 7 DOIGTS)

2016-2017 AT A GLANCE • New works include: the commission 7 artistic directors, 7 visions. In Vice & Vertu (Montreal’s 375th 2002, seven circus artists came together and became The 7 Fingers, anniversary); the world premiere of Réversible in Montreal; the staging a collective that is at once unified of the Viennese operetta The Circus and multi-faceted. Over the course of 15 years, the collective has grown, Princess in Moscow, and the creation of Bosch Dreams in Denmark. creating new projects that are varied as the artists themselves: • The 7 Fingers on tour: a threeoriginal productions, Broadway month run of Traces in Paris seen by shows, artistic collaborations, project over 33,000 spectators; over 350 direction, custom designed events, performances of Triptyque, Patinoire, performances for Olympic ceremonies, Traces, and Cuisine & Confessions, and televised creations, immersive a residency in Marrakesh, Morocco performance experiences, and with The Fibonacci Project. much more. Every one of these • On top of creating multiple bespoke projects carries The 7 Fingers’ events for Hermes, Bench, Evenko, unmistakable mark. Ambassadors Mastercard and Airports Council of diversity, the troupe has International, the collective leads the consistently broadened its horizons, acrobatic creation and choreography for mixing genres to better tell their Cirque du Soleil’s Paramour on Broadway. stories. Fascinated by the human • The company launches a brand new condition, The 7 Fingers create visual identity and strategic vision performances that speak about our focused on creation, incubation, world and our time. With over 500 and community engagement. shows a year, their works reach • Renovations and building are audiences across nations. In 2018, underway for The 7 Fingers’ The 7 Fingers will inaugurate their new Creation and Production Centre of Creation and Production Centre, opening in 2018. situated in the heart of the Quartier • The troupe is awarded the Grand des Spectacles in Montreal. The Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal. new centre will house all of the company’s activities, departments and dreams under one roof.

• The 7 Fingers participate in Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa.

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