Reviewed by John Herbert Cunningham
A Way In, performed at the Gas Station Theatre, created by Natasha Torres-Garner, Wednesday, April 27, 2011
What do four mattresses and the fact that Ian Modzden finally kept it in his pants during a full performance have to do with an enjoyable evening? Read on, wary reader, read on. A Way In has been offered.
Ensemble with mattresses
Natasha Torres-Garner has been enthralling audiences ever since she graduated from the professional division of Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers. As one of the co-founders of Young Lungs Dance choreographic workshop, she has been helping other dancers find their feet in the world of creating dance rather than just doing it herself.
In Torres-Garner’s case, her productions, which almost always push the edges of dance, move from feet to stage as dance and theatre merge into a unique blend best described not as performance art but rather the art of performance: “I have always been interested in physical works with a strong sense of physical theatre, and poignant imagery. If that means performance art, then sure.” She seems to be always able to eke out the unique.
A Way In was no exception. It was, she says, “inspired by a 20 minute work I set up for the company dancers at Toronto Dance Theatre in October, 2009. The concepts came from my interest in examining different types of relationship patterns and how to break them.” The performance, her first full length one began before the show actually did. As the audience, unfortunately rather sparse for this opening night, entered the Gas Station Theatre performance space, they were accompanied by the strains of a solo violin playing a gypsy melody.
The violinist Florian Lassnig, a Hungarian émigré engaged in massage therapy and osteopathy in Winnipeg, is an incredible find. An improvisational artist, he used his theme as a launching pad for incredible variations. A master of all contemporary techniques, he used rubbing methods and humming into the instrument while doing so to create a completely new voice for the instrument. He would move into the area of Eric Satie sonority, and in fact cited Satie as one of his favourite composers.
To the accompaniment of this pre-show serenade, a lone figure lay on a mattress in the far corner surrounded by three other mattresses placed on end. Once the doors to the theatre closed, the figure of Ian Modzden rose from the mattress. Modzden is described in the playbill as a “devised theatre performer” which Torres-Garner further describes as “a process where the material is being created throughout the rehearsal process, with improvisations and other sources, rather than a script.” He would be joined initially by another male performer, Johnathan Bevan, and then by two female performers, Ali Robson and Alexandra Elliott.
I took the term performer rather than dancer directly from the playbill. This is a signal that Torres-Garner has solved the problem of the absent male dancer that Jolene Bailie had complained about in my last column. Given the lack of males in Winnipeg trained in contemporary dance, Torres-Garner has created a performance space for them in another manner. As she stated: “this work is a dance / theatre performance. Both Ian and John come from a theatre background. They are both also very physically aware. The aesthetic that I have always been interested in, can be labeled as authentic movement— movement that comes from a natural human place. This kind of approach is dependent on performers being strongly trained to be present in their body, but not necessarily trained in traditional dance forms. Involving actors that are physically aware seemed very fitting for a work that would require exactly that as well as a strong sense of theatricality.”
This ‘natural movement’ concept is somewhat reminiscent of the works that Karen Kuzack of Trip Dance fame created. Trip Dance, sadly and much to Winnipeg’s detriment, announced their winding up last year. Ali Robson was involved with them in their final performance, The Art of Displacement, where dancers simulated unique ways of getting around or avoiding physical objects.
A Way In revolves around the concepts of cooperation and competition as viewed from a gender bias that eventually evolves. To Bevan’s summoning, “Hey, Ian!” Bevan and Modzden begin the assembly of a chain of mattresses, which breaks down into a macho competition to see who can best slide three mattresses across the floor. Robson and Elliott begin a homoerotic coupling as hugging becomes hand placement near ‘the naughty bits’, as Monty Python would say, leading eventually to a catfight demonstrating that aggression is not limited to the male of our species.
The use of text is becoming more and more prominent in dance performances as was seen in Jolene Bailie’s performance last week. Torres-Garner has her performers makes excellent use of this. They used the base concepts provided by Torres-Garner – freedom, action, performance, etc. – expanding these into competing galaxies of narrative to the accompaniment of a game called ‘I’m first’ in which all four eventually played.
Torres-Garner was Winnipeg’s dance ambassador for the 2010 Cultural Capital of Canada award. As such, she had created some unique experiences involving Winnipeg landscape such as the one she did along Winnipeg’s downtown skywalk. She has continued to offer unique dance and theatre experiences with A Way In. Keep pushing the edges, Natasha. You make Winnipeg a much more interesting place.
Dance, Four Mattresses, and an Ambassador
Columns
Reviewed by John Herbert Cunningham
A Way In, performed at the Gas Station Theatre, created by Natasha Torres-Garner, Wednesday, April 27, 2011
What do four mattresses and the fact that Ian Modzden finally kept it in his pants during a full performance have to do with an enjoyable evening? Read on, wary reader, read on. A Way In has been offered.
Ensemble with mattresses
Natasha Torres-Garner has been enthralling audiences ever since she graduated from the professional division of Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers. As one of the co-founders of Young Lungs Dance choreographic workshop, she has been helping other dancers find their feet in the world of creating dance rather than just doing it herself.
In Torres-Garner’s case, her productions, which almost always push the edges of dance, move from feet to stage as dance and theatre merge into a unique blend best described not as performance art but rather the art of performance: “I have always been interested in physical works with a strong sense of physical theatre, and poignant imagery. If that means performance art, then sure.” She seems to be always able to eke out the unique.
A Way In was no exception. It was, she says, “inspired by a 20 minute work I set up for the company dancers at Toronto Dance Theatre in October, 2009. The concepts came from my interest in examining different types of relationship patterns and how to break them.” The performance, her first full length one began before the show actually did. As the audience, unfortunately rather sparse for this opening night, entered the Gas Station Theatre performance space, they were accompanied by the strains of a solo violin playing a gypsy melody.
The violinist Florian Lassnig, a Hungarian émigré engaged in massage therapy and osteopathy in Winnipeg, is an incredible find. An improvisational artist, he used his theme as a launching pad for incredible variations. A master of all contemporary techniques, he used rubbing methods and humming into the instrument while doing so to create a completely new voice for the instrument. He would move into the area of Eric Satie sonority, and in fact cited Satie as one of his favourite composers.
To the accompaniment of this pre-show serenade, a lone figure lay on a mattress in the far corner surrounded by three other mattresses placed on end. Once the doors to the theatre closed, the figure of Ian Modzden rose from the mattress. Modzden is described in the playbill as a “devised theatre performer” which Torres-Garner further describes as “a process where the material is being created throughout the rehearsal process, with improvisations and other sources, rather than a script.” He would be joined initially by another male performer, Johnathan Bevan, and then by two female performers, Ali Robson and Alexandra Elliott.
I took the term performer rather than dancer directly from the playbill. This is a signal that Torres-Garner has solved the problem of the absent male dancer that Jolene Bailie had complained about in my last column. Given the lack of males in Winnipeg trained in contemporary dance, Torres-Garner has created a performance space for them in another manner. As she stated: “this work is a dance / theatre performance. Both Ian and John come from a theatre background. They are both also very physically aware. The aesthetic that I have always been interested in, can be labeled as authentic movement— movement that comes from a natural human place. This kind of approach is dependent on performers being strongly trained to be present in their body, but not necessarily trained in traditional dance forms. Involving actors that are physically aware seemed very fitting for a work that would require exactly that as well as a strong sense of theatricality.”
This ‘natural movement’ concept is somewhat reminiscent of the works that Karen Kuzack of Trip Dance fame created. Trip Dance, sadly and much to Winnipeg’s detriment, announced their winding up last year. Ali Robson was involved with them in their final performance, The Art of Displacement, where dancers simulated unique ways of getting around or avoiding physical objects.
A Way In revolves around the concepts of cooperation and competition as viewed from a gender bias that eventually evolves. To Bevan’s summoning, “Hey, Ian!” Bevan and Modzden begin the assembly of a chain of mattresses, which breaks down into a macho competition to see who can best slide three mattresses across the floor. Robson and Elliott begin a homoerotic coupling as hugging becomes hand placement near ‘the naughty bits’, as Monty Python would say, leading eventually to a catfight demonstrating that aggression is not limited to the male of our species.
The use of text is becoming more and more prominent in dance performances as was seen in Jolene Bailie’s performance last week. Torres-Garner has her performers makes excellent use of this. They used the base concepts provided by Torres-Garner – freedom, action, performance, etc. – expanding these into competing galaxies of narrative to the accompaniment of a game called ‘I’m first’ in which all four eventually played.
Torres-Garner was Winnipeg’s dance ambassador for the 2010 Cultural Capital of Canada award. As such, she had created some unique experiences involving Winnipeg landscape such as the one she did along Winnipeg’s downtown skywalk. She has continued to offer unique dance and theatre experiences with A Way In. Keep pushing the edges, Natasha. You make Winnipeg a much more interesting place.