DanceHouse Presents Louise Lecavalier's New Solo Work STATIONS Next Month

DanceHouse, in partnership with SFU Woodward's Cultural Programs, presents the legendary Louise Lecavalier in her latest contemporary solo work Stations from November 23-26, 2022 at the Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. Produced under Lecavalier's Montreal-based company, Fou glorieux, and choreographed and performed by Lecavalier, Stations has been hailed a "kinetic marvel" (Dance International Magazine), exploring the ebb and flow of movement and examining the memories that live in the body. The work is structured in four sections: stations that can be understood as the four seasons or the four points of a compass. The stations are differentiated by movement, score, and lighting, and explore specific themes - fluidity, control, meditation, and obsession.

"We are thrilled to bring the inimitable Louise Lecavalier back to Vancouver, who was last seen on the DanceHouse stage in 2015," says Jim Smith, Artistic and Executive Director of DanceHouse. "Her latest solo work Stations is a masterclass in the artform. Lecavalier brings together her singular dynamism, fluidity, and intimacy in this extraordinary work that serves as a deeply personal look at her lifelong relationship with dance in all its forms."

Lecavalier connects together the discrete stations with technical virtuosity, moving between wild abandon and precise delicacy. Her body is the subject of her own research; rather than seeking the movements of this piece, she allowed the stories to come forth on their own through improvisation and repetition. Stations is a work about freedom, as Lecavalier's spirit is simultaneously revealed and hampered by the body.

The 60-minute work features the unique visual signature of lighting designer Alain Lortie, who delineates the space with four moveable columns of light. The score is provided by four groups, one for each station: guitarist Antoine Berthiaume, saxophonist Colin Stetson, electronic group Suuns and Jerusalem in My Heart, and singers Teho Teardo and Blixa Bargeld.

Münstersche Zeitung's review described the essential nature of the work: "The truth is, she hasn't even danced. She was the dance." Westdeutsche Zeitung also praised the piece, noting that it takes the audience "a while to surface from the intoxicating state of awe and enter back into reality." Stations originally premiered at tanzhaus nrw in Düsseldorf in February 2020, before beginning a two-year global tour.

Lecavalier worked with Edouard Lock and La La LaHuman Steps from 1981 to 1999, a period of exceptional intensity punctuated by works that have since become mythical along with scintillating collaborations (David Bowie, Frank Zappa, and more). Her extreme dance, filled with a frenetic energy, caught the imagination of an entire generation. Since founding her own company, Fou glorieux, in 2006, her movement research has been emblematic of her whole career, emphasizing the surpassing of limits and risk-taking, a search for the absolute in which she seeks to bring out the "more-than-human in the human." In 2012, she created So Blue, her first full-length choreography, followed by Battleground in 2016. Both works have toured extensively, nationally and internationally.

Lecavalier has received many prestigious awards during her career, including the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in dance in 2014.

For tickets and further information, visit: dancehouse.ca

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