I am posting an interesting section of the film, Valazquez’s Little Museum, choreographed by the Canadian choreographer, Edouard Lock. The dancers are members of Edouard Locks company, La La La Human Steps. They are Berner Herbert, Louise Le Cavalier, Markita Boles, Edouard Lock and Christine Tessier.
Valazquez’s Little Museum, was created in 1995 and is available online in six sections. This video shows the fourth section with two dances: a pas de deux featuring Louse Le Cavalier and an ensemble piece by the company.
A brief synopsis of the film is that a young woman in a dream state enters a museum that houses paintings by Valazquez. In her dream she encounters characters from the paintings who step out of their poses rather like ghosts and interact by dancing together in various rooms of the museum. They walk in and out of rooms which shift throwing them into a different paintings and spaces. A visual theme running throughout the film is frames of rectangles and squares; paintings of different sizes, door frames and hallways.
In this video we see Lock’s choreographic style showing dancers hurtling through space and at each other at break neck speed. We see dynamic shifts between dancers, extreme movement sequences juxtaposed with stillness and breaks. The dancing is very intense pushing the limits on risk with extreme physical movement. It is powerful and done exacting technique.
This film is a surreal experience and one that I still appreciate and enjoy!
Hope you do to!