posted August 26, 2000 13:09            

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The style worked well in excerpts from Ms. Laurin's
1989 "Chagall," performed by O Vertigo, a leading French
Canadian modern-dance company, on Sunday afternoon at
the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in the Ted Shawn Theater.
But a great deal of "En Dedans" ("Inside"), which completed
the program, looked merely decorative.

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posted September 24, 2001 16:10            

09.23.01
O Vertigo (Ginette Laurin)
Luna
Salle Ludger-Duvernay, Monument-National

Choreography: Ginette Laurin

Performed by: Anne Barry, Mélanie Demers, Kenneth Gould, Patrick Lamothe, Chi Long, Anna Riede, Marie-Claude Rodrigue, David Rose, Donald Weikert

Rehearsal coach: Raymond Brisson
Set and lighting: Axel Morgenthaler
Sound: Larsen Lupin and Ginette Laurin
Costumes: Carmen Alie and Denis Lavoie of Trac costume
Music: Peter Scherer, Karl Friedrich Abel, Johannes Schenck, Marin Marais, Tobias Hume, Terre Thaemlit, Lithops, SND, T. Brinkmann, Noto, David Cunningham, Neina, Anonymous 4, Gramm

I thoroughly enjoyed Luna. Although it does not seem that Ginette Laurin has made any huge departures from any of her previous choreography with this piece, it was still an enthralling experience. I have always felt that the strength of her work is in the partnering, whether it's in duets or trios. There is an easy grace the makes it all look so fluid and simple, although it's very athletic and gymnastic. I loved watching the four men perform in duets together. It's nice to see men partnering each other in a way that doesn't just exploit their strength, but shows them off as the superb dancers they are. The mismatched groups of duets, woman and woman, man and man, woman and man were just as wonderful. Less interesting was the multitude of small hand gestures that the dancers performed. There was too much repetition of them and they seem a little dated, reminding me of Édouard Lock in his early work.

The dancers, wearing small wireless mics, used a lot of audible breath but it never sounded forced as it often can in performance. The narration was interesting but not necessary, I thought the work would have spoken just as clearly without it. And the women did a very admirable job of singing in one section.

The huge magnifying glasses were an interesting prop and worked best on the rolling stands. It was a nice effect when one was used with a camera and the reflection was projected on to the upstage scrim. I didn't like them as much when they were rolled across the stage with dancers moving behind them.

The enormous hoop skits were beautiful under certain lights. I wasn't really enthusiastic about the video that was projected on to one of them, but I liked the video projection of one of the dancer's legs from beneath the skirt and the duet that occurred between two of the dancers there. I don't want to nitpick, but the material that was used for the overskirts, which was very light and airy, gave the audience a full view of the stand the dancer was on under certain lights. Something less sheer might have worked a little bit better as this took away from the illusion somewhat. And when the dancers swept over people lying on the stage, supposedly spiriting them away, very small fishing weights would have kept the hems down-but still allowed the skirts to rise when necessary. Seeing the performers walking like ducks underneath the skirts was a little funny.

Those small technicalities aside, this is a very effective piece. It's also a good example of why Laurin's summer workshops are so very popular. There is such a substantial and tangible kinaesthetic strength in what she creates. Watching her dancers makes you want to beg her to let you join her company. That might sound effusive, but I'm not joking, her choreography is that powerful.

Luna
video excerpt 56k
video excerpt DSL

O Vertigo website

posted September 26, 2001 14:23            

Sorry, Trina, I know that's the wrong coast for you!

posted September 27, 2001 07:42            

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Luna earns applause

O Vertigo's Luna, for instance, is a co-production with Luzernertheater in Switzerland and had its world premiere there in January. Performed for the first time in North America at FIND, the visually stunning dance earned the greatest applause over the festival's first weekend.

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posted October 05, 2001 11:01         

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Many Lenses, All Viewing Movement

By ANNA KISSELGOFF

Everything Ginette Laurin choreographs for O Vertigo, her dance company from Montreal, is worth a look, and her new work, "Luna," which runs through Sunday at the Joyce Theater, is no exception.

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MORE . . .

posted October 11, 2001 19:34            

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Canada, Australia, Great Britain. The season is rife with imports, including Ginette Laurin's Montreal-based O Vertigo. Laurin's latest work, Luna, is less explosive than her earliest pieces; since 1998, she has explored a dreamier world.

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posted June 15, 2002 09:42            

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Troupe swept up in Luna's lunacy

In this lunacy, Laurin poses her dancers like marionettes moving together in unnatural, robotic precision, as if to quote Shakespeare, "what a piece of work man is."

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posted June 16, 2002 08:10            

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Montreal's O Vertigo shows warm side of the moon

This one performance was worth the entire two weeks of programming. The costumes, lighting, dancing and choreography were all fresh and lively -- underscoring by comparison the depleted, same-old, same-old ideas we've seen from time to time during the festival.

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