Crépuscule des océans (Twilight of the oceans) — Daniel Léveillé [VIDEO EXCERPT]
A human tide marked by contradictory currents busies itself, committed but alert, concentrated on not making mistakes, resistant and ambitious, obsessive. An exchange with the other in the middle of such a whirlwind can be only furtive and loaded with aggressiveness. Loving is no longer an option. It is necessary to negate and to oppose. The dancers are most often two by two, absorbed by the immediacy of this link and always testing their limits. They show us a powerful society that was once glorious but that has now reached the twilight of its existence. In spite of this “chronicle of a death foretold”, there still remains the beauty of dusk with some Beethoven piano sonatas in the background, fragments of a humanity in distress.
CHOREOGRAPHER Daniel Léveillé
DANCER AT CREATION Frédéric Boivin, Mathieu Campeau, Katie Ewald, Justin Gionet, Stéphane Gladyszewski, Ivana Milicevic, Emmanuel Proulx
LIGHT Jean Jauvin
SOUND PROCESSING Laurent Maslé
REHEARSAL DIRECTOR Sophie Corriveau
PHOTOGRAPHER Philippe Bergeron, Denis Farley
PRODUCTION Daniel Léveillé danse
COPRODUCTION ImpulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival, Szene Salzburg International Performing Arts, Agora de la Danse, Festival TransAmériques, Danspace Project, Département de danse de l’UQAM, Centre de création O Vertigo, Maison de la culture Frontenac
SPONSOR Action culturelle du cirque du soleil
« The seven dancers attack each move, as an animal would attack its prey … A true stroke of genius: Beethoven’s sonatas, absolutely perfect for this essentially non-lyrical piece, add a magical rhythm and vitality … For all of this, Twilight of the Oceans is undoubtedly one of Léveillé’s most accomplished works in recent years.»
- Le Devoir, Montréal
« The purity of these unadorned actions takes my breath away … Léveillé’s work allies people with elemental forces – rocks enduring the tide, tectonic plates shifting. »
- The Village Voice, New York
« Somewhere between the human and the beast of burden … But sooner or later, the riveting power of this creation ends up submerging the spectator in its hypnotic depths, in some strange, inexplicable way. If not during the performance itself, sometime soon thereafter. »
- La Presse, Montréal