Review: MORPHS Shines Brightest In Its Simplest Moments

DanceWorks returned to Toronto stages after nearly 2 years with its presentation of the uber-modern MORPHS, from Montreal's Fila 13 Productions and choreographer Lina Cruz. The work soared when its highly skilled dancers were given the chance to show off their control; however, the production struggled to maintain its original ideas as it moved further from dance and towards more theatrical components.

The show opens on a dark stage, with dancers Geneviève Robitaille and Antoine Turmine clothed in black and barely backlit with harsh white beams. The opening sequence shows off their technical abilities gorgeously, as their movements suggest creatures that are natural, maybe human-like in nature, but not people. Mixed with their use of cables and tarps on stage they're able to create striking silhouettes against the backlighting (lighting and shadows by Thomas Godefroid) and the sounds of the props and their own tongue clicks and knocks on the stage floor add to the dissonant music (composed by Philippe Noireaut).

From here the story seems to follow the development of a society. The performers enact a mother and baby in a beautiful, simple scene full of natural references. They move on to show groups of people either clustering together or all doing their own thing across the stage, with costumes (costume design by Lina Cruz, assisted by Cheryl Lalonde) getting more similar to modern wear as the show progresses. More advanced, technological props like phones, neon lights, and more also appear as time goes on.

However, despite some beautiful moments early on the production seems to struggle under its attempt to do too much. The use of mime, experimental theatre, and vocal performance aren't unusual in dance works but the sometimes overlapping inclusion of these elements in MORPHS created a narrative that made many parts of the production difficult to follow.

Despite this, there were still some really beautiful ideas and moments in MORPHS. The use of ankle and head lamps on dancers on an all-black stage as Noireaut's inclusion of the shanty-like 'Raft' accompanied by the ringing of water-filled glasses was simple and haunting. The patterned on-and-off passing of the lights from dancer to dancer suited the musical accompaniment and proved that sometimes less is more, especially in a production that felt like its ideas were overflowing at times.

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MORPHS presented by DanceWorks ran March 31 - April 1 at Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay W, Toronto.

For more information on Fila 13 Productions visit https://fila13.com/. For more information on DanceWorks visit https://www.danceworks.ca/

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