Alvina Ruprecht

Pontus Lidberg brings grace, beauty and new visions of the dance to the NAC

By Alvina Ruprecht | April 16, 2015

Photo: Bunraku puppetry…

Pontus Lidberg Dance – Written on Water and Snow

The exciting Swedish dancer, choreographer and filmmaker, Pontus Lidberg has a long list of impressive accomplishments in all the above-mentioned fields , working with theatres and companies around the world. He gives us beautiful as well as challenging creative moves with the human body. A magician who molds and choreographs his lithe corporeal instruments, most of whom appear to have serious balletic training which produces an extraordinary sense of discipline and breathtakingly supple interaction and a multitude of possibilities to be somatised on stage.

Photo: Petrus Sjovik. Snow. with dancer and puppeteer.

Written on Water was originally conceived as a pas de deux for the American Ballet Theatre. The plucking , sounds coming from Stefan Levin’s music, that seem to emanate from industrial material working overtime in an urban setting, form a powerful soundscape that accompanies the two movements of this first piece. The two male dancers, Barton Cowperhwaite and Pontus Lidberg flow together in liquid harmony as they communicate competition, domination, eroticism, submission, disdain and various emotions and competitive stances, always entwined in abstract movements where the ballet base is redefined by modern steps, gestures, and corporeal choices, all conforming to the music, much in the style of Balanchine’s work. The second part of this show brings us back to a pas de deux with a man and woman where the classical balletic style conforms to a more traditional even lyrical vision of that dance form, in keeping with the traditional vision of the mixed gender couple . Nevertheless, there was always a flowing, sweeping grace that accompanied their work that gave one the sense it was all something new.

…

Read More Read More

Lipsynch au Festival TransAmériques : le théâtre de Robert Lepage et l’ouverture vers le monde.

By Alvina Ruprecht | April 12, 2015

Le théâtre québécois s’inscrit désormais dans le réseau des théâtres des Département français des Amériques, depuis que certains artistes ont entrepris des collaborations qui ont fécondé la créativité de part et d’autre. Notons la collaboration exceptionnelle entre Denis Marleau (directeur artistique du Ubu, compagnie théâtrale, Montréal) et José Pliya (Etc Caraïbe, C.D.R. l’Artchipel, Guadeloupe); entre la compagnie de José Exélis (Les Enfants de la mer) et Stéphane Martelly (Départ); entre Diane Pavlovic (de l’école nationale du théâtre à Montréal) et l’Association Textes en Paroles de la Guadeloupe; notons encore plus récemment, la collaboration entre le metteur en scène Sylvain Bélanger (de la troupe québécoise Théâtre du Grand Jour), l’acteur Erwin Wache d’origine haïtienne mais formé au Québec, et le dramaturge martiniquais Bernard Lagier dont la pièce Moi, Chien Créole est déjà programmée pour la rentrée 2007-08 sur les scènes à Montréal et à Ottawa. Et…nous venons d’apprendre que Ruddy Sylaire jouera le rôle principal dans la nouvelle production d’Othello, mise en scène par Denis Marleau. Rien d’étonnant de ces rencontres artistiques entre le Québec et les D.F.A. Plutôt, on se demande pourquoi elles ont mis si longtemps à se réaliser étant donné les affinités linguistiques entre les régions.

…

Read More Read More

Pontus Lidberg Dance at the NAC. Snow and a Canadian Premiere – This Was Written on Water. .

By Alvina Ruprecht | April 10, 2015

Photo from the NAC

April 10, 2015 – OTTAWA (Canada) – Sweden’s rising star choreographer Pontus Lidberg makes his NAC debut with a new creation, the breathtakingly poetic Written on Water, as well as his 2013 masterwork, Snow. This is a Canadian premiere and an exclusive Canadian engagement. Pontus Lidberg Dance performs in the Theatre of the National Arts Centre on Tuesday April 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Set to an original score by Stefan Levin, Written on Water was originally conceived as a Pas de Deux for American Ballet Theatre principal ballerina Isabella Boylston and premiered at New York City Center’s Fall For Dance Festival. This beautiful work has now been expanded to include three dancers.

In Snow, choreographer Pontus Lidberg performs with three other world-class dancers and a lifelike, highly expressive Japanese Bunraku puppet, for this turbulent composition set in a ceaseless snowfall. Snow contrasts the fleeting and fragile human reality of existence with the enduring character of nature. The work was commissioned by NorrlandsOperan, the opera house of northern Sweden, for its 2013 centenary presentation of Stravinsky’s score The Rite of Spring. With influence from this famous classical work, Snow currently features an original score by Ryan Francis.

WRITTEN ON WATER (2014)
ChoreographY Pontus Lidberg

MUSIC Stefan Levin

COSTUME DESIGN Reid Bartelme

LIGHTING DESIGN Carolyn Wong

ABOUT SNOW (2013)

Choreography and SET AND VISUAL DESIGN Pontus Lidberg

COMPOSER Ryan Francis

COSTUME DESIGN Reid Bartelme

LIGHTING DESIGN Carolyn Wong, after the original design by Patrik Bogårdh

PUPPET DESIGN and DIRECTION Kevin Augustine, The Lone Wolf Tribe

WORLD PREMIERE September 21, 2013

ABOUT PONTUS LIDBERG

Internationally acclaimed Swedish choreographer-dancer Pontus Lidberg was trained at the Royal Swedish Ballet School. He has danced with The Royal Swedish Ballet, The Norwegian National Ballet, Le Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, and The Göteberg Ballet, among others. Pontus Lidberg has been making dances for stage and film since 2000. Most recently, he produced WITHIN (Labyrinth Within), during his tenure as Resident Artistic Director of Christopher Wheeldon’s company, Morphoses. Mr. Lidberg has been commissioned to create over 30 new works for such companies as The Royal Danish Ballet, The Royal Swedish Ballet, The Beijing Dance Theater, and Vanemuine Ballet of Estonia, as well as for his own company, Pontus Lidberg Dance (founded in 2003). Pontus Lidberg was awarded New York City Center’s prestigious Choreography Fellowship in 2012-13.

TICKETS AND PERFORMANCES

Sweden’s Pontus Lidberg Dance perform Written on Water and Snow in the Theatre of the National Arts Centre on Tuesday April 14 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $40, $45, $53, and $61 for adults and $22, $24.50, $28.50, and $32.50 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card).

Groups of 10 or more save 15% to 20% off regular ticket prices; to reserve your seats, call

613 947-7000 x634, or e-mail grp@nac-cna.ca.

Tickets are available for purchase:

· in person at the NAC Box Office

· at all Ticketmaster outlets *

· by telephone from Ticketmaster, 1-888-991-2787 (ARTS)

· online through the Ticketmaster link on the NAC’s website (www.nac-cna.ca) *

Rocky Horror Show: The Cult Musical Comes to Ottawa

By Alvina Ruprecht | April 5, 2015

Photo Allan Mackey. Centre stage Tim Oberholzer as Frank’n Furter..

When Tim Oberholzer leaves Ottawa later this year, we will have lost one of our most versatile actors. No one but Tim could play Dr. Frank’n Furter, the snarling, emoting, transvestite glamrock vampire , the ultimate genderbender body that moves like a sinewy snake, that sings like David Bowie and draws the eye towards his/her person in spite of the overwhelming crowd of girating sexy creatures with flashy wigs, stripped down costumes and timeless lyrics. The music of Richard O’Brien is of course one of the backbones of this show. .

Very skilfully directed by Stewart Matthews who made it all look painless and so utterly high class in spite of the limited material means which were at times rather obvious, the show bounced along at a fabulous pace, carried by the voices and excellent acting by the main characters:

…

Read More Read More

The Hairy Ape:

By Alvina Ruprecht | April 4, 2015

Photo: Glen McIntosh. Louis Lemire and Donnie Laflamme.

Eugene O’Neil’s The Hairy Ape, written in 1921, appears extremely modern with its discussion, in Act II, about labour unions, the exploitation of the working class and the suppression of left wing discourses foretelling the Joseph McCarthy era even though the play appeared long before that communist scare decimated the artistic community in the USA. It even foretells the highly stylized visual techniques Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, created later in 1927, where the exhausted workers are transformed into automats as they stoke the engines of the Commercial liner in the first scenes of the play. Constructivist stage structures meet an expressionist atmosphere as the setting reflects the frustration, the anger and even the rage of the men toiling in the bowels of that huge commercial liner.

Director Lisa Zanyk has choreographed moments of the play that take us back to those episodes of silent film the dirty working body is fore grounded against the gentile dainty creatures of the upper classes who mimes as much as she talks, when she comes to see those men as “filthy beasts”. Thus Yank, the principal protagonist in this dramatic comedy, sinks deeper and deeper into his raging depths, coming close to his primitive origins as he feels more and more alienated from New York Society and those whom he assumes are making fun of him.

…

Read More Read More

Take me back to Jefferson: a fascinating corporeal performance that sets this family in competition with all the other living species on the earth.

By Alvina Ruprecht | March 29, 2015

Photo: Barb Gray.

This adaptation of the William Faulkner novel As I lay dying…remains fairly close to Faulkner’s 15 interior monologues performed here by seven actors who tell the story about a country family living in a fictional town in Mississippi. The Family has sworn to respect the dying wishes of their mother Addie, a tough old lady who wants to be buried in Jefferson. Even in death she dominates their lives. As they make the difficult journey , the calvary as it were, back to Jefferson, they are almost drowned, burned, destroyed as they drag that coffin across the country with mother in it, just to respect her dying wishes. During the trip we learn about each of the children through their monologues which structure the performance, each one producing memories of Addie. explaining their feelings about the farm, the other children and their visions of the world. It is all expressed in a rough but poetic version of a slightly archaic hillbilly talk. This most beguiling language transforms them all into larger than life types, all emerging as grotesque beings within a southern gothic style landscape where they become creatures creating strangely delusional images of their own reality.

…

Read More Read More

A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller: a tragic ritual of great human proportions.

By Alvina Ruprecht | March 28, 2015

Photo from National Theatre Live (A Young Vic production). Michael Gould (lawyer) and Mark Strong (Eddie Carbone) Centre stage.

Written in 1955, this play has had several rewritings where the ending especially has taken on different forms. This London version corresponds to the final published version where Eddie dies in his wife’s arms. Especially after the 1942 film starring Raf Vallone, the play became a classic of cinematic neo realism or even Zola-like naturalism that we always associate Miller’s dramaturgy . Miller’s stark naturalism fore grounds the complex psychology of the characters and here, Ivo Van Hove captures the deeply troubling psychological turmoil of Eddie Carbone the Longshoreman and patriarch of his New York family composed of Beatrice his wife, Catherine his niece , 2 young illeagal Sicilian immigrant cousins Rodolpho and Marco. As a relationship develops between Catherine and Rodolpho, Carbone’s hostility to this young man turns the uncle into a tense, brooding , jealous, angry creature who ultimately gives in to a most hateful gesture that has tragic consequences. The question of Illeagal immigration is dealt with in the play, as the director mentions in a preshow interview, and that is what gives the event a certain immediacy in relation to recent events in the United States.

…

Read More Read More

La Charge de l’orignal épormyable: blood curdling production of this Claude Gauvreau play on the U. of Ottawa stage.

By Alvina Ruprecht | March 26, 2015

Photo. Marianne Duval.

A blood curdling all feminine production of La Charge de l’Orignal Épormyable, under the direction of Guy Beausoleil, plays this week at the U.of Otttawa . This is a rare chance to see a work by Claude Gauvreau, poet and playwright, who was one of the people who signed the Quebec Manifesto Refus Global in 1948 and set Quebec culture on a new trajectory.

This plays gives us an excellent glimpse of the poet, his tortured conscience, his vision of artistic production and his heightened idea of the poet who emerges as a god, a super presence that can save the world. We see, among other things how his dialogue, becomes a verbal form of “Automatismse”, essentially a reference to the visual art experiments of the period. , Gauvrau wrote partially in “ langue exploréenne”. Portions of his text represent “non figurative” language composed of extra-linguistice elements (sound, rhythm, accents, ) that corresponded (in spoken language) to the Automatist experiments in non-figuratuve painting in the 1950s where the sexual impulse was considered central to artistic creation. Most of those who signed the Manifesto Refus Global were removed from their jobs and became pariahs of society because it appeared that most of the artistic establishment in postwar Quebec was not yet ready to accept a form of “Modernité” that was inherited from the new European art Movements.

…

Read More Read More

The Marriage of Figaro: Opera Lyra’s Near Perfect Operatic Event

By Alvina Ruprecht | March 24, 2015

figaroA10420753_10153671330364202_5671657415846831276_n

Wallis Giunta as Cherubino, John Brancy as Figaro. Photo Andrew Alexander.

Wagner’s vision of Opera was essentially the Gesamtkunstwerk, a dialogue of all the arts. There is no doubt that the public often perceives Opera as essentially a musical performance (instrumental and vocal) but I have always felt that a performance of “théâtre chanté” which is where Mozart found the purist expression of his dramatic genius, must include all elements of a staged production to do justice to the meanings imbedded in that wonderful music.

Take the overture to the Marriage of Figaro . Last night, it t burst upon us at a most furious clip, under the impeccable playing of the musicians and the magical direction of Kevin Mallon. It left me out of breath and perfectly in the mood to receive what was coming: a light hearted, deliciously playful outpouring of “théâtre comique”. I was not disappointed….for the most part. The voices were excellent expressions of that dramatic genius as they transformed their recitatives and their arias into truly theatrical moments of comic acting, Opera buffa met Opéra comique in one of the most enjoyable evenings I have spent at Opera Lyra in a long while.

…

Read More Read More

The Best Brothers: A brilliant piece of dramaturgy that speaks as much about theatre as it does about grieving.

By Alvina Ruprecht | March 16, 2015

Photo, Barb Gray: featuring John Ng and Andy Massingham.

A frontal set made up of overlapping rectangles that establish an endless depth, glowing with interesting colour as the two men standing on either side of the stage, note our position in the audience and prepare us for what is to come. These are the Brothers. On one side Kyle (Andy Massingham), a flamboyant real estate agent trying to convince us and his clients to buy his condo, intoxicated with words as he praises the qualities of his product. The other brother, on the other side of the stage is Hamilton, (John Ng) cool and calm, exceedingly rational, dressed in a suit, an architect who is explaining his recent project to potential buyers. Their phones ring simultaneously. . Reactions on both sides are immediate except that the reactions are not the same. “Just something…” I can take care of it…says Kyle, “a tragedy…” says Hamilton the cool architect who tries not to appear upset but is very moved. Lights down then back up as all the rituals that accompany death and its closure for the family, structure the rest of the show. What we see emerging , under the stress of their mother’s campy accident is a the whole grieving process which underlies both the comedy and the strained relationship between the two sons, where jealousy rears its ugly head more than once and where the extraordinary Bunny (or Mommy) is recreated as the focal point of their lives.

…

Read More Read More