Quebec dancer and choreographer Guillaume Côté presents his new show starting this Wednesday night Crypto at the Maisonneuve Theater in Montreal. Originally scheduled for the spring of 2020, this work on people’s craze to control nature as well as beauty is based on a story by librettist Royce Vavrek written at the request of Guillaume Côté.
Set to music by Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson and accompanied by visual effects from Montreal company Mirari, Crypto is danced by four performers, including Guillaume Côté himself.
Its history is based on cryptozoology, which studies animals whose existence has not been proven.
Taking place in a surreal universe, it depicts a couple looking for a creature that will solve all their problems, especially the relational ones. They found him, brought him home, and tried to remember him without success. The couple then called a plastic surgeon to transform the creature, represented by American dancer Casia Venngoechea, into a human.
It holds the attraction of people to transform nature so that it belongs to them explained Guillaume Côté.
Canadian-American Royce Vavrek, author of several operas, devised this plot. “I asked him to write a story for dance that is wacky, dynamic at fun “, refers to Quebec artists.
What I liked was that these surreal figures provide the freedom to magnify movement, he added. We are in a classical vocabulary, but with contemporary dancers.
Dance, unimportant, but irreplaceable
Crypto It should have been announced to the public two weeks after the start of the incarceration, but the pandemic delayed this moment by two years.
This project has kept me inspired for these two years. During that time, we worked to refine the show, rearrange it and keep it alive.
Last year, Guillaume Côté fell little depression by not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
There are times when we wonder if we should continue to train and fight to convince people that we still have a place in our community. he recalled.
It’s hard to realize that we are important, but not essential, in daily life when we are here to enrich people’s lives.
However, because of these difficult times, he valued the performing arts more. Amazing back on stage after a two year break. Nothing else connects in this way, to something so spontaneous, real and organic. We could feel the audience breathing with us [quand on danse].
Ultimately, he believes these two years of pandemic represent a beautiful journey . We are not important, but we are incredibly important and we are irreplaceable he says.
who started ballet at the age of three, Guillaume Côténe never thought how much he loved to dance. The pause caused by the pandemic helps with questioning, he thought. After this stop, do I really want to go back ?, he wondered. Absolutely! Dancing is like breathing for me.
Dance in support of Ukraine
At the end of April, Guillaume Côté danced Romeo and Juliet in Toronto as part of a fundraiser in support of the Ukrainian population. We try to send funds to artists so they can continue their careers and not see the work of a lifetime evaporate because of a political situation. he explains.
The one who was the first Quebecer to dance with the Bolshoi, Russia’s prestigious cultural institution, was deeply saddened by the war Russia started with Ukraine. There is an incredible polarization. People see their careers dissolving.
We want the art not to be political, but the dancers are stars in Russia, like hockey players. I have Russian friends who have to be ambassadors for Putin and prisoners of their government.
Crypto Performed until Saturday at the Théâtre Maisonneuve, in the Place des Arts.
Source: Radio-Canada
