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Marie Chinouard / Photo by Karine Patry
Toute danse porte sur le corps, mais dans l’œuvre extraordinaire de Marie Chouinard, la corporéité est à l’avant-plan.
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All dance is about being in the body but in Marie Chouinard’s extraordinary work, the corporeality of the body is front and centre. She’s been creating dance now for over thirty years, first as a solo artist and then as choreographer for her Compagnie Marie Chouinard, and continues to create dance that is astonishing and vital, often breathtaking, dance that has its roots in ritual and play yet with movement that continually reinvents itself. These days, Marie Chouinard and her company are based in a studio building, Espace Marie Chouinard, on L’Esplanade in Montréal. She’s had a conference devoted to her work 24 Preludes by Chopin, and her dancers were awarded a Gemini for their performance in the film of bODY_rEMIX/gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS. Her most recent piece, Henri Michaux: Mouvements premiered in Vienna in August 2011. It’s perhaps no surprise that Marie Chouinard keeps a jam-packed schedule. Novelist Catherine Bush managed to fit in a phone conversation with her one morning promptly at nine a.m. as she arrived at the studio. Their discussion was wide-ranging, touching on topics such as nudity, structure, the search for beauty and how a dancer’s body changes with time.
Toute danse porte sur le corps, mais dans l’œuvre extraordinaire de Marie Chouinard, la corporéité est à l’avant-plan. Elle compose des danses depuis plus de trente ans, d’abord comme artiste solo et ensuite au sein de la Compagnie Marie Chouinard. Ses créations demeurent surprenantes et vitales, souvent étourdissantes ; sa danse est ancrée dans le rituel et le jeu, sa gestuelle en perpétuelle réinvention. Sa compagnie occupe actuellement un immeuble, l’Espace Marie Chouinard, sur la rue de l’Esplanade à Montréal. Il y a eu un colloque sur sa pièce Les 24 préludes de Chopin et ses interprètes ont mérité un prix Gémaux pour leur travail dans le film bODY_rEMIX/les_vARIATIONS_gOLDBERG. Sa dernière création, Henri Michaux : Mouvements a été présentée en première à Vienne en août 2011. Ainsi, l’horaire très chargé de Chouinard ne surprend personne. Néanmoins, la romancière Catherine Bush réussit à la joindre au téléphone, précisément à 9 h, lors de son arrivée aux studios. Leur discussion touche à bien des sujets, notamment la nudité, la structure, la quête de la beauté et le changement du corps de l’interprète au fil du temps.
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I would love to see dances without musci or increansingly expensive special effects dependency. I think that every dancer should go to Marrakech - just for a change. Walk about Plaza Jamme El fna. Walk and walk. Be with each group of singers-musicians, sit down, or stand up about the circle ( but being a woman one needs to be careful but not paranoic - security has improved tremendously at Plaza Jamee el Fna...). Under the starry sky contemplate the only visual gimmick, which is placed at the center of the circle ( I'd not describe it otherwise "ideas" are going to be emulated in an artsy (or not) context. Experimetnal dance doesn't know what "to do" anymore...I'd love Marie Chinouard to explore the vital in a not so neurotic eye catching way. The passion is there. The talent is there. The adulation is there. The trap is already there. Get out of the trap, Marie.
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