Review: Is You Me

As we enter the room at Usine C, there is already a shape on the floor, dangling like a pendulum from left to right. Not a dancer yet, but a video projection of a human-like black blob. Soon, Louise Lecavalier walks onstage and lies next to it, espousing its shape and movement. Already in its opening, Benoît Lachambre’s Is You Me hints at our inevitable fall under the quiet charm of this hypnotic work.

Louise Lecavalier and Benoît Lachambre in Is You Me, photo by Laurent Goldring

As it turns out, the white floor and background is really a blank canvas for visual artist Laurent Goldring to fill with simple computer drawings. His drawings are not just another layer added to the dance as much of a way of interacting with it; lines emerge out of the dancers’ body or cover their skin like digital makeup. When the screen is black, Goldring uses wide brush strokes to paint it white again and turns the computer into a lighting tool. With minimal technological means, he is able to change the scenography with the click of a mouse, sometimes to breathtaking effect.

The choreography (maybe because part of the stage is lifted at a 30-degree angle) overwhelmingly takes place on the horizontal, which yields unusual and interesting results. Tension is maintained in the movement as it appears simultaneously schizophrenic and restrained, like when Lecavalier dances as if her hands and her face were connected by invisible thread. There is certainly an unassuming wit at play here, like when Lachambre’s legs and Lecavalier’s torso form a single body that defies human anatomy and its articulations, bending backwards until Lecavalier seemingly loses her legs. Such duos are rare though, Is You Me being more a series of solos.

This is no downside however as the show never has one dead moment between sections, moving at a calm but steady pace that makes sure that its audience is always with it. Add to the mix Hahn Rowe’s music, one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard for a dance show, allowing every element of Is You Me to perfectly blend into one another and create a unique experience.

Upon our exit from the room, an unintentional pun slipped out of Tangente artistic director Dena Davida’s mouth: “They drew me in.” I could say the same. And, from the looks of it, so could have many present at Usine C tonight. A show worth discovering.

Is You Me continues until Monday, May 26. Tickets are 38$ and can be purchased by calling 514.844.3822 or 514.790.1245. For more information on this and other FTA shows, visit www.fta.qc.ca

N.B. If you go see Is You Me, I would recommend showing up at least half an hour in advance (the show is general admission) and sitting as close to the stage as possible (don’t be scared of the first row). The show has an intimate feeling to it and such works are usually best experienced from up close.