I thank the woman who gave me a leaflet for this contemporary dance performance. Thanks to this encounter typical of Avignon, I saw a very touching show. This performance includes in reality two different ones (FORWARD and then Into Outside), even if I rather consider these as two parts of the same one.
FORWARD is a solo composed and interpreted by Edouard Hue, the director of Beaver Dam Company. With sincerity and generosity, he explored the possibilities offered by movement and the limits of his own body. During 25 minutes, the choreography goes crescendo. I had the sensation to assist to the show taking shape, and even to enter the intimacy of the dancer. I saw him searching for a starting point – with a great tension even in (what seems like) immobility, hesitating between inside and outside, verticality and then horizontality, stretching and withdrawal into himself. Gradually, the choreography is elaborated and reaches the form of a climax.
Into Outside is a composition little by little joined by five dancers, and which can be read as the next part of the first solo. Based on the Maslow’s pyramid of needs, it questions the relations between the individual and the group, but also desires of domination, admiration and exhibition. In a worrisome way, it shows how social pression and need for group membership refuse difference and lead us to conformity. At centre stage, a young woman begins a sort of solo but is quickly forced to break off, despite her resistance, and to imitate the others. The result is a gripping choreography, where the performers seem to have no choice but to dance until exhaustion.
Summary in French:
Sur la scène du Théâtre Golovine, la compagnie Beaver Dam nous offre deux compositions résolument expérimentales. Dans FORWARD, Edouard Hue explore les possibilités d’expression du mouvement et nous met sous les yeux une chorégraphie en train de s’élaborer. Après ce solo émouvant, Into Outside questionne les relations entre l’individu et la société, et en particulier les mécanismes de pression sociale qui poussent la plupart d’entre nous à se conformer aux autres. Deux propositions scéniques fortes, interprétées avec beaucoup de générosité.