For his 17e edition, the Festival TransAmériques (FTA) is offering two shows this year that highlight bodies of different ages. THE bboyCrazy Smooth even devotes the subject of his play to it, In My Body. For Oona Doherty and her creation Navy Bluethis issue is less central, but according to her it was necessary for her purpose.
“I find myself at 42 today. I look to the left, I see my youth, and to the right, where I’m going. I feel in the middle,” says Crazy Smooth when he talks about the starting point of his new piece. In addition to his personal experience, he has also set up many conversations with people from several generations, all in the fields of street dance and hip-hop. “It’s not a story as such, it’s really a sharing on the theme of aging,” he continues.
Although her piece does not directly evoke aging, Oona Doherty questions the diversity of bodies and ages in the dance world today. “There is a huge lack of diversity, yes on stage, but also in the audiences and in the places of performance! I think there is a big difference between “community dance” and “professional dance”. It may be related to sales systems, tours…”, she says.
For his piece In My Body, Crazy Smooth wanted to bring the public inside the body of the dancers. For example, he removed the music on a section to highlight the breathing, the noise of the bodies, the impacts on the ground, etc. “It pushes the imagination and it makes the public understand the war that is going on in our limbs while we dance. In addition to choreography, Crazy Smooth also incorporated words and projections. “I find words can go places bodies can’t, and vice versa. Each medium has its strength. It’s a balance between each of them, I tried to ensure that all the forms of the different mediums lend themselves to the subject and together create a language,” he explains.
“We constantly show ourselves to be invincible, describes the dancer when he talks about street dance and dances from hip-hop culture in general. We are superheroes, we are not going to hide it, but, behind that, there are humans and vulnerability, and in our environment, it is still taboo ”. With this work, Crazy Smooth wanted to develop a “less known” part of street dance. “I hope this experience will allow people, the general public, to understand our world a little better. »
Exposing the real
For his piece Navy Blue, Oona Doherty wanted to present different bodies and age categories. “I really wanted it to feel like a village, or a real-life community,” she says. They’re certainly not all the same, and that’s the beauty of it. »
“Being around older people and dancing with them comes very naturally to us people in the hip-hop community. you go to a jam street dance and you always find the three generations there. You can’t exist without the other,” he says. For Crazy Smooth, the cohabitation of dancers of different ages is not new in its milieu. It is more so in the contemporary environment, according to him. “We still see a lot of virtuosity and the promotion of youth. Companies that don’t hire dancers over 30 are still a reality. The diversity of bodies and ages is not yet very vast,” he laments. Same observation on the side of M.me Doherty. “It’s not crazy that people who do ballet or contemporary are used to seeing a group of people on stage who are roughly the same age, weight, training…not to mention race and social class …”, says the artist.
Despite her desire to stage performers from different generations, the choreographer of Navy Blue failed to bring together as diverse a group as she had hoped. “When we call for interpreters, what platforms do we use? Who does this really affect? Who can afford to be paid that amount for a few weeks? Who can go on tour with a show? Who shows up for an Oona Doherty audition? All this already excludes a large number of people. The learning of cast is an art form in itself, and I think my work mostly appeals to well-trained, middle-class, able-bodied dancers. Which is very beautiful, I’m lucky, I’m not complaining about it, but I won’t say it’s diverse,” she underlines.
In My Body brings together nine street dance performers. Among them, we find in particular pioneers, such as DKC Freeze or Tash, who danced in the 1980s. Crazy Smooth considers itself very lucky to have at its side people who saw the birth of hip-hop culture in Montreal. “They went through that, and they’re still here, so having them on stage is even more special. »
With this work, Crazy Smooth wishes to show the authenticity of each dancer. “Nobody plays a role. DKC is 58, he ain’t trying to be a bboy 25 years old. Everyone stays themselves. I wanted to expose the public to what I, from my perception, saw every day in rehearsal and in our community. This interaction, this beauty of seeing all these performers interact, love each other, work for a common goal,” he continues. Crazy Smooth also hopes to create “a historic event” with this piece. “To have a group of performers, from three generations of street dance in Canada, who will share the stage, is unheard of! It’s one of the rare times when people will have intimate access to our culture. »