A small childlike figure awakens on stage. He grasps onto a floating balloon that carries him through the air.
When he reaches the other side of the theatre, flakes of snow fall onto the desolate stage. A blizzard is approaching.
With every motion of the youthful figure, four masked individuals move their arms, each controlling one of his limbs.
This is not a child actor, but actually the elaborate puppet at the centre of Snow, one of the dance performances being hosted at the National Arts Centre on April 14.
The work was created by Swedish choreographer Pontus Lidberg to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Igor Stravinsky’s renowned ballet The Rite of Spring.
When Snow premiered in 2013, it was danced to Stravinsky’s composition, but Lidberg will be premiering an entirely new electronic score to accompany the Ottawa performance.
Lidberg chose to incorporate the puppet into the performance because he says he is fascinated by how we are animated as humans.
“We think we are in control of what we do, but in fact we are not,” he says. “We are somehow operating under a very subjective interpretation of reality.”
The performers on stage move the puppet in the same way people are controlled by the things that happen to them, without even realizing it, Lidberg says.
This idea is extended throughout the rest of the piece, with all of the performers having childlike qualities similar to the puppet, he says.
The ensemble consists of Lidberg and three other dancers, one from South Africa and two from the United States.
Lidberg says exploring the relationships between the dancers is a significant aspect of both Snow and Written on Water. The latter of which will be premiering at the National Arts Centre.
Although people live in their own bodies, other people are what give their lives meaning, he says. To reflect this, Lidberg says he designs all of his performances around the encounters between the dancers.
“I choreograph movements that have a seamless flow to it just like a conversation between two people – except it’s movement,” he says.
The April 14 event will be Lidberg’s first time performing in Canada.
From 1996 to 2003 he performed with companies such as the Royal Swedish Ballet and the Norwegian National Ballet. Throughout his career he has created more than 40 different works and recently held a choreography fellowship from New York City Center.
It’s always interesting to introduce new artists to the Canadian public, says Cathy Levy, the National Arts Centre’s executive producer of dance.
Lidberg has a strong sense of space and does a very good job at mixing classical technique with a contemporary voice, says Levy.
“I think Pontus has a great, creative approach to the body. He makes movement that I find dynamic, that I find original,” she says.
Nature has played a prominent role in many of Lidberg’s previous works. In Snow, the story occurs during a never-ending winter, with plastic snowflakes falling throughout.
The purpose of this setting is to put our personal lives into perspective, Lidberg says.
The performance illustrates how the immediate struggles in our lives become insignificant when compared with the massive natural forces we have no control over, he says.
“My interest lies in putting very subjective and personal narratives in perspective with something that is bigger than that, something that is universal,” Lidberg says.
Those intimate narratives are what Levy says she hopes the Ottawa audience is able to relate to.
“They will, with their own personal experience, allow Pontus to take them on his journey.”