Ulysse, nous et les sirènes explores the meeting of different musical worlds, embodied by two unique voices of jazz and opera. At the unlikely crossroad of these paths, choreographer Dominique Porte proposes a veritable geography of the body in space, in which four performers distil a symbiotic energy.
In this imaginary world, the accord between emotion, desire, and danced action is guided and also deviated by the undulating and mesmerizing live singing voices. The dancers are placed in a state of constant instability which they overcome, submit to, or provoke. Movements are precise, impulsive, and occasionally seem to be activated by a force outside the dancers.
With Ulysse, nous et les sirènes, Dominique Porte and her artistic collaborators have steeped themselves in the founding legend of Western civilization as told in Homer’s Odyssey, and by its mythical hero, Ulysses. In the choreographer’s view, the Ulysses myth exists within each of us, and is what has caused us to travel, until the present instant.
From a country “further away than India or China,” that extends to the entire known world and to the limitless territory of the imagination, the adventures of Ulysses inspired Dominique Porte to create a work composed of tableaux that symbolically conveys the themes of departure, identity, travel, life’s course, the loss of self, absence, and death.
What drives us to act? What is this force, this curiosity that turns us from our path and destabilizes us?
The theme of the meeting between human beings, present throughout Ulysse, nous et les sirènes, questions what urges us into being. To be inspired by this myth is to question those inner voices that propel us to act or not to act: “Within us are those sirens with the power to make us veer from our course, that chaos and harmony, that dream state and waking state, those selves with multiple personalities.”
The choreographer’s resolve to work with singers in her new creation was directly related to the suggestive power of the voice: “The human voice can play with time and with timelessness. It can delude the human being, influence the perception of his or her presence, move in a space that it can transform unassisted. The voice can transmit, bewitch, or bemuse, just as it can be spiteful or commanding. With or without words, it can translate inner states and also be provocative by influencing the dancer in the dance, creating a dialogue between it and the body."
Ulysse, nous et les sirènes
A production of Système D/Dominique Porte
Choreographer : Dominique Porte
Dancers : Marc Boivin, Heather Mah, Victoria May, Dominique Porte
Singers - on stage : Isabelle Ligot et Nadine Medawar
Composers and musicians
: Laurent Maslé et Charles Papasoff
Rehearsal director and artistic advisor : Christine Charles
Costumes : Claire Geoffrion
Light : Marc Tétreault
Technical Director : Rasmus Eeg Sylvest
Soundman : Laurent Maslé
Photographers : René Foley, Michael Abril
Première : February 3-6, 2010, Cinquième Salle de la Place des Arts de Montréal
Partners
Circuit-Est, Centre chorégraphique
Cirque du Soleil
Département de danse de l'UQAM
La La La Human Steps
Maison de la culture Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension
O Vertigo, Centre de création
Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal
