By Laura Scarfo
Modern dance is not always an easy art form to understand. Le Groupe, an Ottawa-based dance company, is trying to change this by offering the public a unique opportunity: a chance to see a short performance and discuss it afterwards with the choreographer and the rest of the audience.
“It’s an opportunity to get behind the scenes and see how dance is created,” says Julie Anne Ryan, media and events coordinator for Le Groupe. “You can be face to face with real dancers – it’s really magical. It’s an opportunity to see a great dance performance and then get a chance to ask those questions you’ve always wanted to ask or make comments.”
This appropriately titled Dance Lab, is mutually beneficial to both the audience and the choreographer as both have the chance to learn from each other, says Ryan.
Every three weeks, a new choreographer is showcased at the Arts Court Theatre, located at 2 Daly Ave.
Each choreographer presents a 15 to 20 minute performance of his or her current work in progress with dancers provided by Le Groupe.
After the performance, discussion is encouraged between the audience and the choreographer.
The dialogue is especially helpful to the choreographers, who use the lab to develop ideas or to get out of creative ruts.
“Here you can explore and develop ideas without the pressure of a final performance,” says Adriana Castanos, a choreographer from Sonora, Mexico. “ I really use the time to push my work further so I can go back to my company and make it worthwhile. Both the pieces that I’m working on, I’m working on parallel with my group.”
Castanos has her own dance company in Sonora, Mexico, and is also head of the Bachelor of Dance program at the University of Sonora. She applied to the Dance Lab to help her get out of a creative block.
She presented one piece to an audience on Oct. 26 and found the feedback useful.
“Friday’s session sort of unraveled the piece for me and gave me the key I needed to move forward,” she says.
Le Groupe’s artistic director, Peter Boneham, is the mastermind behind the Dance Lab program.
In 1988, he decided to change Le Groupe from a typical dance company to the Dance Lab.
Boneham selects the choreographers from videos of previous work that are accompanied by letters of intent.
“I look first to see if the work is vital,” he says. “I also look at the quality of the work. It has to be a choreographer who has something to say.”
He believes that a dance performance should “provoke the 5 senses” of the audience members.
“Art has to feed you,” Boneham says. “You have to take something away. If it is just a pretty dance, then you forget about it as soon as you leave.”
While many of the choreographers involved in the Dance Lab are Canadian, at least two or three choreographers per season are from another country. This season, there is Castanos from Mexico and another from Ireland.
Once selected, says Ryan, the choreographer’s transportation costs are paid by the company.
Usually, the choreographer is accommodated by a board member with a spare room and given a per diem for the three weeks of the program.
For the performance, Le Groupe provides the choreographer with dancers, a work space, theatre technicians and a small budget for costumes and other items.
Le Groupe is funded by several organizations including the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. The company also does its own fundraising.
Choreographers accepted to the program must choose a monitor or mentor to counsel them throughout the three-weeks .
“Most choreographers choose Peter (Boneham),” says Ryan, but they are also able to choose other choreographers or other types of professionals depending on the nature of their work.
The next choreographers in the series are Rob Abubo and Shauna Elton. The pair is from Ottawa and will be presenting their work in progress on Nov. 16, 23 and 24.
All performances begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students. For reservations, call (613) 235-1492.