Compagnie Marie Chouinard
Orpheus and Eurydice
Marie Chouinard, Orpheus and Eurydice. Dancers: Carol Prieur, Manuel Roque
Photo: Marie ChouinardSavage and infinitely refined . . . terrifying, exhilarating, mysterious, immediate.
—Village Voice
Orpheus and Eurydice is the newest ballet 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. Always provocative, this vigorously 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.
Running time: 75 minutes, no intermission
Video
Marie Chouinard, Orpheus and Eurydice. Dancer: Dorothea Saykaly
Photo: Marie ChouinardAbout the Artist
Dubbed the high priestess of the avant-garde, Marie Chouinard unites the sensual and cerebral in her stark, iconoclastic, visually stunning works. Her provocative intelligence, idiosyncratic humor, sexuality, and meticulous construction have garnered her awards around the world. The international reputation of the Compagnie Marie Chouinard, which was formed in 1990, stems from her prior practice as a solo artist. Between 1978 and 1990, she created more than fifty choreographic productions, action-performances, vocal works, installations and films, in which she refined her lifelong interest in formal research and the human body. Throughout her career, her works have been perceived as provocations, but they also are pathways towards freedom and compassion, where humor is possible and Eros omnipresent.
A hurricane of unbridled imaginativeness.
—The New York Times
Orpheus and Eurydice. Choreography: Marie Chouinard. Dancers: Lucie Mongrain, Kimberley de Jong, Carol Prieur, Carla Maruca, Dorotea Saykaly
Photo: Michael Slobodian