Nouvelles —15 février 2016

Les choses dernière (1994) recréation avec Isabelle poirier, 2016. Photo: Angelo Barsetti.

Les choses dernière (1994) recréation avec Isabelle poirier, 2016. Photo: Angelo Barsetti.

Lucie Grégoire Danse celebrates a 30th anniversary by the re-creation of Les choses dernières and an exhibition at l’Agora de la danse from March 9–12

Choreographer and dancer Lucie Grégoire will celebrate the 30th anniversary of her company, founded in 1986, by the re-creation of an emblematic work of her repertoire, Les choses dernières, and an exhibition, both of which will be presented at l’Agora de la danse from March 9 to 12, 2016. Created in 1994 and freely inspired by Paul Auster’s novel, In the Country of Last Things, this defining solo, the culminating point in an unremitting inquiry into identity, inhabited Lucie Grégoire for a long time. Today, she is passing it on to Isabelle Poirier, another very intense performer. To underline this anniversary, in parallel to the performances of Les choses dernières, l’Agora de la danse is hosting an exhibition comprising a retrospective of photographs, video excerpts, and costumes, as well as a film of a conversation between Lucie Grégoire and Paul Auster that was made recently in Brooklyn.

A work freely inspired by Paul Auster’s novel, In the Country of Last Things

In Les choses dernières, a woman emerges from the night, as if from a hidden, obscure territory. Her gestures scrutinize time; her body is ever poised to flee, to the point of transparency. In “the country of last things” where everything is disintegrating, she keeps wandering, impelled by the urgency of survival. The lighting by Alain Lortie and the music by Robert M. Lepage are bound up with the dance and envelop the stage in a cinematic aura filled with a veiled, yet inflamed sensuality.

Thirty years of achievement

Recognized for the integrity of her artistic approach, the hypnotic beauty of her dance, and the pictorial dimension of her works, Montreal choreographer and performer Lucie Grégoire has forged a unique path in contemporary dance. She has created over thirty choreographies in her career – solos, ensemble works, and in situ pieces – that have been presented in Canada, New York, France, Tunisia, and Japan. Unfettered and audacious, her work plumbs the feminine universe, drawing its inspiration from a panoply of sources that include anthropology, mythology, ancient cultures, literature, visuals arts, and music. Her creations are nourished by her contacts with other countries or regions and their cultures, be it the Arctic, the Amazon, Spain and Portugal, the Sahara, Japan, or Morocco. In 2004, the creation of Eye, in collaboration with Japanese choreographer and dancer Yoshito Ohno, marked a turning point in Lucie Grégoire’s trajectory. Two other duets, Flower (2008) and In Between (2011), were added to this cycle, making up a fascinating trilogy.

Upcoming

From May 13 to June 5, 2016, Lucie Grégoire will be accompanied by dancer Maria Kéfirova, musician Pierre Tanguay, and audience mediator Sophie Michaud in a creation residency at the Musée de la Civilisation in Quebec City. In a dialogue with the images in the museum’s exhibition, This is Our Story: First Nations and Inuit in the 21st Century, she will develop an interactive creation experience, a true work in progress that will allow the public to enter into the heart of the choreographic process.

Lucie Grégoire’s latest solo, Ciel et cendres, created at l’Agora de la danse in 2014, will be presented during the 2016-2017 season in the framework of Conseil des arts de Montréal en tournée.

March 9, 10, 11 at 8 pm + March 12 at 4 pm
Parole de chorégraphe : March 10 (a discussion with the choregrapher follows) Agora de la danse, 840 rue Cherrier, Montreal
 ( Sherbrooke Metro)

Box office: 514-525-1500 / agoradanse.com