Weekend picks April 17-19: Compagnie Marie Chouinard & Epiphany Dance Experiment

April 17, 12:00 PMChicago Dance ExaminerRachel Thorne Germond

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Chicago Dance Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Chicago Dance Examiner's Weekend Picks: April 17-19 2009

Friday & Saturday
Compagnie Marie Chouinard:
Orpheus and Eurydice
New work by the Internationally acclaimed Montreal choreographer Marie Chouinard. Drawing from the realm of Greek myths, she explores the birth of language, the powers of language and its links to the body, and the tie between language and death. This  sensual performance celebrates the human body as a carrier of life, and carves out a place for us to discover the poetics of the body in immediate, intelligible and ever-surprising ways. (for mature audiences- no late seating)

When: Friday-Saturday, April 17-18, 7:30 pm Sunday, April 19, 3 pm
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611
Tickets:  $40 Buy Tickets Online or call the MCA Box Office, 312.397.4010
Special Opening Night Celebration:Friday, April 17, 6 pm Tickets, $100, feature an intimate pre-performance dinner and include a ticket to Orpheus and Eurydice. Proceeds benefit performance programs at the MCA.

Marie Chouinard writes about her work:
My source has always been the body itself, and especially the silence and the breath which make up the “invisible” stuff of life. At the root of each new work there is always what I call the “mystery”, an unknown wavelength that calls out to me in an almost obsessive manner. My work consists of capturing this primordial wavelength, of “tuning” it in a sense, and of arranging it in space and time with a structure and form proper to it. Since 1978, this is what I have been doing: listening attentively to the vital pulsation of the body to the point of crystallising it in a new order. Each time, I start afresh from zero. Each time, I focus and re-direct my “antennae”, I seek out a new “state”, I track this wavelength until everything is in line, like in a reinvented classical structure in which, I hope, the viewer’s own “mystery” will be revealed to her.
-Marie Chouinard  2000          (from the company website)


 
Interested in auditioning? the company is having auditions in Paris on May 16.
I just posted the link on the Chicago Artists Resource website

Sunday
Epiphany Dance Experiment (EDE)
EDE is launching a six concert Dance Series on Sunday, April 19, 2009 at 6pm. Additional concerts will take place May 17, July 12, September 6, October 4 and November 1. This Sunday's EDE  focuses on the question: What is modern/contemporary/experimental dance? Artists presenting work are:Zephyr Dance, Julie Mayo/Dim Sum Dance, the Leopold Group, and Asimina Chremos/Silverspace. The performance will conclude with a post-show talk during which audience members may question the artists.

When: Sunday April 19
Where: the Epiphany Episcopal Church, 201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL
Tickets/Reservations:  $12 suggested donation$10 suggested for students and seniors - call (312)330-4171 for more info.

Dance Examiner's asides:
Yeah! More dance and performance showcases in Chicago!...
Choreograher Ayako Kato has stepped up the plate to produce a new much needed dance showcase in Chicago.
The  EDE is a engaged with the development of dance arts in Chicago,  utilizing the space of Epiphany Episcopal Church in Chicago’s West Loop. Thanks Ayako!

Sometime in the late 1990's I remember volunteering to assist backstage for a performance by Marie Chouinard at the Kitchen in New York City. It was an unforgettabe experience as I was asked to go to the dressing room of this amazing artist and sponge red body paint onto her naked body. The performance was incredible -- she did a version of the Rite of Spring and other amazing pieces, including the one where she wore only red body paint. I have long been a fan of her work. What I saw was a solo show, and I believe she was re-working Nijinsky's choreography.