After two years of postponements and cancellations, the star dancer Guillaume Côté was finally able to present his piece Crypto at the Théâtre Maisonneuve last night. Dreamlike universe and neoclassical gestures shape this danced fable which innovates in terms of scenography, but remains classic in form.
Quebec dancer and choreographer Guillaume Côté was inspired by cryptozoology, the study of animals whose existence is not proven, to build his work Crypto. We understand it very quickly thanks to the words spoken in the background, taken from the story of the author Royce Vavrek, written at the request of Mr. Côté. With its two elements, Crypto is then intended to be a very narrative work, with a clear common thread, worthy of a fable. A couple goes in search of a creature, which man constantly dreams of, who will solve all their problems. Once found, they try to domesticate it, in vain. Then comes the time to transform her into a more human being. The story leads us to think very quickly of King Kong or Frankenstein’s monster. The choreographer then wonders about Man’s need to control the nature and the outcome, sometimes fatal, that such behavior can have. We therefore follow the four protagonists (the couple, the beast and the surgeon) in this fantastic tale, which does not reinvent the genre, but which is easy to follow. In effect, Crypto does not seek to cover the tracks or to deepen the subject. It just aims to tell a story, while dancing.
On the scenography side, nothing to complain about. The choreographer wanted to bet on innovation and it is done with the work of the Montreal company Mirari. Very elaborate light effects and realistic and immersive projections plunge us into the dream and allow us to really follow the story unfolding before our eyes. We discover an enchanted forest, a whirlwind of doors, a hidden city, the images parade and tell the story. The light also highlights the bodies drawn and shaped by the identity of the characters. The stage is cut into different sections to highlight a dominant, then a dominated. We recreate a realistic operating scene also thanks to these luminous effects which bring the raw side of the moment while leaving sparkles and color details to remain in poetry and fable.
The movement for the movement
The four performers of the piece, Greta Hodgkinson, Natasha Poon Woo, Casia Vengoechera and Guillaume Côté himself, come and go in the scenes and wander with their specific gestures. We will also emphasize here the interesting search for movements, which all the same often flirts with the beautiful lines of classical ballet. An artistic choice that particularly appeals to the general public since, of course, technique and virtuosity are at the rendezvous.
The couple, interpreted by Mr. Côté and Mrs. Hodgkinson, merge in its lines. The lifts are soft, the moments of unison, few in number, impeccable. We find with them the spirit of classical ballet, mixed all the same with more contemporary techniques, such as more pronounced angles at the level of the arms in particular or even more jerky gestures. Despite certain disagreements that are understood by bodily antitheses, we understand that the couple is one, that the two are a pair and that love unites the harmony of their bodies.
Natasha Poon Woo who plays the surgeon and Casia Vengoechea who plays the creature, both come to break neoclassicism even further. Indeed, each with their signature, they reveal very structured, very controlled steps and a danced vocabulary that enriches the piece. We follow their various emotions over their body states in an accurate theatrical interpretation. Ms. Vengoechea performs marvelously the animality of the body and all these geometric possibilities, bordering on the contortionist. Mrs. Poon Woo inspires with her military precision and her smooth release. A beautiful combination of entities that demonstrates real research work.
All in all, Crypto pours out a lot of gestures and diversified movements, certainly justified by the story, but sometimes breathless. The bodies stop little and dance a lot, for no necessarily apparent reason. However, does the movement necessarily need meaning and can’t it just be there to be there, to be loved for what it is and not what it tries to represent?