SPOKEN WORD/BODY
«Bélanger's poetic, philosophical text on science fiction' post-human body or the influence of fear was itself an artistic triumph ... To give away the marvellous epilogue would be cruel. Suffice it to say, it is worth the price of admission.» - The Globe and Mail, Toronto
Premiered in Montreal, at Tangente, on September 19th 2002
Martin Belanger’s work may be described as a hybrid form of dance where a cross-section of divergent elements is woven into the same fabric. Neither pure dance, nor theatre or “happening”, it is all of these things at once.
If all stage art involving the spoken word requires the presence, by force of circumstance, of the actor or performer’s body, then Martin Bélanger goes beyond the obvious in the sense that he gives a prominent place to the sheer presence of the body.
Spoken word/body, Belanger’s latest work, perhaps best represents this approach. Freely inspired by the American spoken word tradition, the body is not presented as a simple vehicle of communication, but first and foremost as a pure presence, even a place in its own right — of conflict, jubilation, tension and abatement. This is where the voice resides, where it emerges and takes shape, but never, it should be specified, to the point of dissociating itself from the body. If the body, for Belanger, is a space in space, a place within a place, then the voice, we can therefore say, is a body within a body.
At play in this piece is another, no-less-essential encounter. For here, more than in the artist’s previous work, dance and theatre are brought together. Placing himself on stage in a manner at once playful and shameless, Belanger breaks from the codes and conventions of these two disciplines. Here, ambiguity reigns—Is he being himself or playing a character? What is represented here, the voice or the body? The integration of the technician/musician into the work also serves to muddy the waters. While their exchanges lend the show a greater sense of theatre, the recognized—and sustained—presence of a technician on stage also calls this very theatricality into question.
Pierre Lefebvre
Choreography and performance Martin Bélanger
Lighting design Jean Jauvin
Sound design and performance Jean-Sébastien Durocher
Artistic advisor Marie-Andrée Gougeon
Translation assistance David Kilburn
Recorded voices Corinne Descombes, Delphine, Claudia Fancello, David Kilburn
Performed in French or English
Technical rider on request
Duration 60 minutes
2010
Expanse Mouvement Arts Festival / Edmonton, Canada
Festival of New Dance / St. John’s, Canada
2009
Agora de la Danse / Montreal, Canada
Tournée dans l'île / Montreal, Canada
2008
Vancouver International Dance Festival (Vancouver, Canada)
Dancemakers (Toronto, Canada)
2007
Moving in November, Kiasma-teatteri, Helsinki (Finland)
Festival La Bâtie, Salle des Eaux-Vives Geneve (Switzerland)
Scène Québec, Théâtre de la cour des Arts (Ottawa, Canada)
Théâtre de la Bastille (Paris, France)
2004
Maison des Arts de Créteil (Créteil, Banlieue de Paris, France)
Festival Le Chore-Graphique, CCN de Tours (Tours, France)
Oktoberdans, Teatergarasjen (Bergen, Norway)
Lille 2004 Capitale de la culture, Maison Folie de Wazemmes (Lille, France)
Free Fall Festival, The Theatre Centre (Toronto, Canada)
2003
Festival International de Nouvelle Danse, Tangente (Montreal, Canada)
2002
Tangente (Montreal, Canada)