7 solos lurking between reality and fantasy
October 20th 2014
Article about Le délire domestique choreographed by Deborah Dunn, presented by l'Agora de la danse.
- Oliver Koomsatira
Louise Lecavalier - Crédit © André Cornellier
You may or may not be aware that Trial and Eros dance company is now well into its 20th season since its incorporation in 1993. Time flies by, as they say. The company was founded in Vancouver before relocating to Montreal in 1999. Its artistic director Deborah Dunn comes from the visual arts, having previously worked as a photographer and costume designer before becoming a choreographer. Her shows have enjoyed several tours in Canada and the US, visiting Calgary, Montreal, Quebec, Vancouver, Victoria, St. John’s, Halifax, Guelph and New York, among other cities. This time around, she's back at l'Agora de la danse with a new piece entitled Le délire domestique featuring Delia Brett, Sara Hanley, Audrée Juteau, Louise Lecavalier, Dean Makarenko, Elise Vanderborght as well as herself. With such a diversified cast of dancers, one would imagine all sorts of ensemble possibilities, however, she has decided to create 7 solos. This choice may be rooted in the creation's theme. The piece "lampoons the comfort of the household with seven solos constructed like quirky, modern and poetic visions of the world of women". Was the choice of using the dancers independently made to create a sense of solitude? She answers: "Not solitude as much as privacy."
Indeed, we live in a paradoxical era in which computer technology and social media have created a setting in which physical isolation is facilitated while simultaneously increasing the ease with which the invasion of privacy occurs. Some experts even think that real privacy and anonymity no longer exist as it once did now that everyone is sharing personal information about themselves and their friends online. Even so-called private domains like the cloud, email and social media accounts, hard drives, bank accounts and government revenue softwares are being hacked and robbed of sensitive data such as social insurance numbers, home addresses, and as recently brought to our attention, private naked pictures... The notion of privacy is an interesting topic to explore especially when Big Brother seems to always want a bit more freedom to snoop through your text messages and tap your phone frequencies to see if you are a terrorist ready to blow up. We are being watched, knowingly it would seem, by private entities like Facebook and Instagram. Which together are curiously initialized FB-I. Makes you wonder…
Indeed, we live in a paradoxical era in which computer technology and social media have created a setting in which physical isolation is facilitated while simultaneously increasing the ease with which the invasion of privacy occurs. Some experts even think that real privacy and anonymity no longer exist as it once did now that everyone is sharing personal information about themselves and their friends online. Even so-called private domains like the cloud, email and social media accounts, hard drives, bank accounts and government revenue softwares are being hacked and robbed of sensitive data such as social insurance numbers, home addresses, and as recently brought to our attention, private naked pictures... The notion of privacy is an interesting topic to explore especially when Big Brother seems to always want a bit more freedom to snoop through your text messages and tap your phone frequencies to see if you are a terrorist ready to blow up. We are being watched, knowingly it would seem, by private entities like Facebook and Instagram. Which together are curiously initialized FB-I. Makes you wonder…
Audrée Juteau - Crédit © André Cornellier
How has the choreographer created these solos? Did she approach each one the same? "Each solo had a very different process. I know very little about the home behaviour of most of the dancers. Though I have toured and worked with Delia and Elise and I did live with Dean Makarenko on and off for eight years!" What was the inspiration to base a show on the daily life of women? Was it a spur of the moment inspiration while being at home or did it occur after much research on how women's roles are viewed in society? "A bit of both." If there's one topic that's getting quite a bit of attention in the media today, it has to be the role of women in modern society. Whether or not we agree, there are still important inequalities between men and women in our predominantly patriarchal system. We can simply look at the financial inequalities that have women statistically earn less than men on average, even if they have similar jobs. Or we can look at the underrepresentation of women in leadership and executive positions in politics or major corporations even if they have the equivalent education and competencies as their male peers. Surely, things are improving in North America and Europe but we can't say it's the reality across the world. Speaking of which, is there a feminist view influencing the choreographer when she tackles the clichés of what is thought and taught to be a woman, in Le délire domestique? "I do not think about feminism when I make art. I wanted to tackle the cliché of the housewife because I had a recent brush with the role in my own life. The housewife does not really exist in reality like it used to but it still functions somehow as a part of our ideas around home."
It's true that in most cases, Canadian and Québécois people don't seem to have many rigid preconceived ideas of what is expected of a good housewife. Especially today as women essentially aspire to the same professional accomplishments as their male counterparts, whether it'd be success, financial independence and wealth, recognition, fame, etc. So the man ends up having pretty much the same household responsibilities as the woman since both are at work and both come back to their children and domestic chores, equally tired. Likewise for same sex-marriages, of course. The ultimate question remains, however, does the big man on campus still have the privilege of opening the overly tightened jars or would that be considered sexist? To be continued…
And what's next for the company after it presents Le délire domestique at l'Agora de la danse? "A remount of an old piece called The Birds this spring." There you have it, short and sweet. You can catch these 7 talented dancers from October 22nd to the 24th at 8pm or October 25th at 4pm. For more details, visit l'Agora de la danse's website. http://www.agoradanse.com/en/spectacles/2014/le-delire-domestique
It's true that in most cases, Canadian and Québécois people don't seem to have many rigid preconceived ideas of what is expected of a good housewife. Especially today as women essentially aspire to the same professional accomplishments as their male counterparts, whether it'd be success, financial independence and wealth, recognition, fame, etc. So the man ends up having pretty much the same household responsibilities as the woman since both are at work and both come back to their children and domestic chores, equally tired. Likewise for same sex-marriages, of course. The ultimate question remains, however, does the big man on campus still have the privilege of opening the overly tightened jars or would that be considered sexist? To be continued…
And what's next for the company after it presents Le délire domestique at l'Agora de la danse? "A remount of an old piece called The Birds this spring." There you have it, short and sweet. You can catch these 7 talented dancers from October 22nd to the 24th at 8pm or October 25th at 4pm. For more details, visit l'Agora de la danse's website. http://www.agoradanse.com/en/spectacles/2014/le-delire-domestique
