Rhodnie Désir presents the fruit of three years of documentary research around the heart, its ups and downs and its faults. We are not talking about states of mind here (or not only), but about the organ, the one that beats in all these bodies that are ours.
There is perhaps no more universal subject. A heart that beats – or which, suddenly, no longer beats – is a blood-red breadcrumb thread that connects us all, beings who have their feet placed on the ground of this planet.
With Symphony of hearts, it is a work of finesse that the first artist associated with Place des Arts offers in the large enclosure of the Wilfrid-Pelletier room. A creation that she nourished with her documentary approach, collecting multiple testimonies from surgeons, cardiologists or people who have experienced heart failure or a heart transplant, for example.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Symphony of heartsa work of finesse, evocative without being literal
The subject is evocative in itself, and it could have been treated literally. But it’s not the beaten path that Rhodnie Désir takes, and that’s a good thing. The documentary research was deposited in the 11 bodies of the performers, in the scenography, in the music, an unprecedented but convincing encounter between the music of Jorane, performed live by the Orchester Métropolitain de Montréal, under the direction of the conductor the Naomie Woo orchestra, and the afro-contemporary (the beatmaker and sound designer Engone Endong and the absolutely brilliant musician and flautist Lasso Sanou are on stage with the dancers). A skillfully woven bridge between two worlds.
The transition from scientific to artistic occurs organically, subtly, thanks to a few key elements: a tilted mirror above the stage, offering new points of view on the dancers, recalls the view of the medical staff against -diving on the exposed heart; a wall erected behind the stage serves as a canvas to project images evoking the heart organ, the blood vessels, the blood which circulates in our veins, red and blue; sticks planted in this same heart become tools for creating pulsations, arrhythmia, polyrhythmia.
These same sticks are used in multiple ways, especially at the start of a show – a dancer who whirls on the floor like a clock, ticking the clock; another who, in a meditative painting, balances this same stick on her head while moving slowly, as if in weightlessness.
There are several paintings of great beauty. The creator knows how to use the scenic elements within her reach in an ingenious way – starting from almost nothing, she creates universes, filling in the gaps. The black tulles from which the dancers shed themselves, piled up, perhaps evoke a blood clot or a dark beast that crawls, like death lurking in the shadows. In contrast, a satiny white sheet waves over the bodies of the dancers, of whom we can only make out the silhouettes, white light, a suspended moment of purity between two worlds.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
The exhilarating final scene
The gestures, unique, are anchored in the ground, in the pelvis and the hips. The body, in constant imbalance, seeks its center, arches behind, becomes heavier in front, comes alive with jolts. On the ground, the feet rise towards the sky, a forest of undulating legs which are reflected in the mirror, a world upside down. The performers demonstrate quite impressive poise and gracefully inhabit the large stage which could intimidate more than one person.
If certain paintings, more static or less defined, capture less attention, the finale is an anthology piece in itself. An electric discharge revives the bodies, lifting them, in a final exhilarating sprint whose message could not be clearer: run, sweat, live, while this heart of yours still pulses in your chest.
Visit the show page
Symphony of hearts
RD Creations/Rhodnie Désir
Wilfrid-Pelletier RoomUntil April 6