A Light in the Dark: Unikkaaqtuat a Joyful, Moderate Success at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre
From the pre-show announcement, we know we won’t catch all that is said onstage during Unikkaaqtuat; in being honest, we won’t have to. In freeing ourselves from the tethers of language-anchored “theatre,” we give ourselves over to a looser, more vibrant performance – one not without flaws, but one with absolute power to inspire and captivate its all-ages audience.
Unikkaaqtuat’s storytelling is a blend all its own of dance, circus, music, and pure athleticism, accompanied by untranslated Inuit language. This joint collaboration between NAC Indigenous Theatre, The 7 Fingers/Les 7 doigts de la main, Artcirq, and Taqqut Productions offers to us an impressive collective of artists capable of astonishing physical feats; what lingers beyond the piece’s final (melancholy, beautiful) chord, though, is not these artists’ physical capabilities, but indeed, what seems to be their ability to transcend the laws of gravity, recovering even from evident missteps or mistakes. Performers navigate complicated choreography through masks and stilts – they are evident masters of humour and grace, surprise and fluidity. They become rabbits, polar bears, glaciers, hunters, the unborn – vibrant symbols of Inuit culture, often accompanied by throat singing and guitar. …