Les Choses Dernières
New York Premiere
Choreographed by Lucie Grégoire
Inspired by Paul Auster’s novel
In this solo, freely inspired by Paul Auster’s novel, In the Country of Last Things, a woman struggles for survival as she confronts disintegrating worlds. Based on an uncompromising approach to movement, the dance here is necessary, lucid, and immensely generous. The raw quality of Lucie Grégoire’s work carries a fierce emotional impact that leaves a haunting imprint.
Inhabited by a state of urgency, Kim Henry gives a poignant performance in a choreography of unrelenting intensity. Robert M. Lepage’s music and Alain Lortie’s lighting create a cinematic atmosphere that conveys the dancer’s inner and outer journey.
CREATIVE TEAM
Choreography by: Lucie Grégoire
Performed by: Kim Henry
Lighting Design by: Alain Lortie and Remastered by: Marc Parent
Music by: Robert M. Lepage
Stage Design by: Hélène Lussier and Remastered by: Angela Rassenti
Costume and Makeup by: Angelo Barsetti
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Since founding Lucie Grégoire Danse in 1986, the Montreal choreographer and dancer has created over 30 works – solos, ensemble pieces, and site-specific events, presenting them in Canada, the United States, Europe, Japan, and Tunisia. Her career has included lengthy stays in New York, France, and Japan, allowing her to work with Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, Min Tanaka, Tatsumi Hijikata, and Kazuo Ohno, among others. She co-created three one-hour dance pieces during a 10-year collaboration with Japanese choreographer and dancer Yoshito Ohno.
Unfettered and audacious, Grégoire’s work plumbs the feminine universe, inspired by travels to remote, rugged lands and by literature, art, and film. Teaching has also been an integral part of her artistic research. Known for the integrity of her approach, the hypnotic beauty of her performances, and the pictorial dimension of her scenography, Lucie Grégoire has forged a unique path in contemporary dance. http://www.luciegregoiredanse.ca/
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival continues to support La MaMa’s commitment to presenting diverse performance styles that challenge audience’s perception of dance by featuring performance/installations, experimental film screenings & public symposiums which address dance artists’ engagement with the current political climate, as well as honoring diasporic histories and legacy, ancestral inspirations and inter-generational dialogue.
“No show succeeds like one that leaves us with captivating images long after the curtain falls, images that appeal to the senses and the intellect alike. This performance shows us an artist at the height of her art. This is rare.”
–La Presse, Montreal, April 1994 (about Les Choses dernières)
“There is a Kafkaesque aspect to Les Choses dernières, a creation born from the strong impact that reading Paul Auster’s In the Country of Last Things had on Lucie Grégoire. A striking work that prodigiously reconciles with contraries, and in which a strength lying at the heart of vulnerability – resilience – shines through. This presentation demonstrates the importance of revisiting, reactualizing, and transmitting valuable works that have significantly marked and enriched the Quebec dance scene.’’
-Le Devoir, Montreal, March 2016
“Masterful and magnificent. Both fragile and earthy, these beings with their spellbinding energy are penetrated by opposing winds, states of agitation, doubt, joy and fullfilment. In Between destabilizes, subjugates, and delights both the eye and the soul.”
–La Presse, Montreal, November 2011