Under Construction - Performance / Renovation

The storefront was brightly lit, the only sign of life on Beaubien East, apart from a few sports bar patrons deflated by the final score (Canadians 1; sabers 4). It was nearly midnight, perhaps past this neighbourhood’s bedtime, but Plan D’Aménagement, a performance piece presented by public art gurus Dare-Dare, was just about to begin.

In the vacant commercial space, I could sense the ghost of a video store (must have been the garish, perforated, blue and yellow walls). One side of the empty space was populated with a curious crowd; on the other side, it looked as though someone had spilled their costume trunk on a construction site. Masks, wigs, dainty gloves, sunglasses and glittery shawls were strewn over plywood 2×4s.

According to the program, the performance plays on the “ambiguity and curiosity passers-by experience when they come upon a space under construction or development - a space in the making.“ As the performers took their palces and the mess began to pulse and throb, it was indeed entertaining to watch the reactions of passers-by confronted with the unusual performance. But when the artists, Caroline Dubois and Julie Favreau took the stage, my attention was drawn to their dance/renovation.

Actually, it’s not quite accurate to say they took the stage. The first thing the performers did was to build a stage: a teetering arrangement of plywood planks and various rolling things. This fundamental instability served as the foundation for the structures the two artists would create, out of the mess and out of eachother.

And I admit, it took an urban planner to make sense of it for me: my friend Joel pointed out that development hinges on human beings: we are (or should be) an integral part of any Plan d’Aménagement.

So perhaps it is not surprising that all through the show, I was kind of itching to take part. Looking at the various materials that the artists had collected for their month-long construction/deconstruction routine, I couldn’t help seeing the seeds for a see-saw, a skate-boarding ramp, or a fort of awesome proportions. And apparently I was not the only one. Throughout the show, a young man crept closer and closer to the stage until he was nearly on top of the performers.

When the performance was complete, I inched forward to explore the scene. But the other young man outdid me: he took a giant leap and landed with a crash on the rickety stage, at which point he was asked to kindly leave. Perhaps he wasn’t being respectful of the artists’ gradually evolving work. On the other hand, perhaps this Plan d’Aménagement could also benefit from a little public participation.

Plan D’Aménagement takes place at 280 Beaubien. It is a month-long project divided into three week-long cycles: Comfort, Risk and Filth, each culminating in a performance. The final performance, Filth, will take place Saturday november 24th at 3 pm.