The much.anticipated new dance piece by Vancouver's
Holy Body Tattoo premiered on February 15 at the
Vancouver East Cultural Centre. Since receiving the
$50,000 Alcan: Performing Arts Award in dance, the
company, headed: by Noam Gagnon and Dana Gingras,
has created an-“irreverent ode to love and passion"
entitled Circa. The work is described as “an exploration
of the (unspoken) language of desire, a confrontation
of fabric and flesh, an eroticism that speaks of move-
ment, of coupling; where desire is suspended in the
zenith of tension." The piece is based on the tango,
and Gagnon and Gingras use that form as a touchstone
for the pleasures and pitfalls of human intimacy.

Set against an opulent tackiness reminiscent of amateur
dance halls, the two performers explore the push and

pull of passion and desire, as well as the burden of love.

Using musical compositions, black‘and white film
footage and live bodies, the company gives us a
glimpse of the complex inner workings of this territory.

Bodies fling: about in repetition:signifying the habitual,
the familiar. This repetition also suggests the places in
which we get stuck in our relationships. One moment is
passion the next is fury. | love you. | hate you. Go
away. Don't leave me.

In this piece, the heterosexual relationship is considered.
The power dynamics between male and female are
considered: At more than one point, Gagnon has his
hand between Gingras’ legs and lifts her by the crotch,
holds her, controls where her body will travel. But she is
no.victim here. Next she is: picking him up and spinning
his body on the horizontal plane: Not only can she

stand by her man, she. can also fling him over her-hip.
And she quashes him, pushes him to the floor to stand
on his chest until he says, “| do." Later, he pushes her
down and flails her neck until it looks like pure
whiplash and she concedes, “I do." Then he carries her
offstage. Victory!

In the film segments, we see couples embraced and
entangled in a real dance hall and we see people alone,
vulnerable, on a subway platform in Paris. We see
Noam and Dana re-enacting their dance again and
again, so.as to suggest its continuance. The dance of
intimacy, after all, never ends.

At some point we must all take a turn at being alone.
In a moment where we anticipate the sexual nature of
their relationship, one dancer takes off a shirt, the two
look longingly into lovers’ eyes, then the other prompt-
ly exits the stage. Alone, s/he is left to navigate the
landscape. The pleasure, ambivalence and pain at being
left to one's self again.

Watching this piece is a reflection for those of us trying
to transcend the struggle of intimacy, noting that pas-”
sion can become a standoff, that the charge of two
sexually engaged individuals can easily turn to the
charge of two desperately enraged individuals.

What | didn't find in the piece, though, was the tran-
scendence itself. It spoke about the territory but did not
take me to a higher place than it. Perhaps | was asking
too much. Perhaps these answers are in a lifetime of
loving and desiring. Not in a dancehall tango.

The much anticipated new dance piece by Vancouver's
Holy Body Tattoo premiered on February 15 at the
Vancouver East Cultural Centre. Since receiving the
$50,000 Alcan Performing Arts Award in dance, the
‘company, headed by Noam Gagnon and Dana Gingras,
has created an “irreverent ode to love and passion”
entitled Circa. The work is described as “an exploration
of the (unspoken) language of desire, a confrontation
of fabric and flesh, an eroticism that speaks of move-
ment, of coupling: where desire is suspended in the
zenith of tension." The piece is based on the tango,
and Gagnon and Gingras use that form as a touchstone
for the pleasures and pitfalls of human intimacy.

Set against an opulent tackiness reminiscent of amateur
dance halls, the two performers explore the push and
Pull of passion and desire, as'well as the burden of love.
Using musical compositions, black-and white film
footage and live bodies, the company gives us a
glimpse of the complex inner workings of this territory

Bodies fling about in repetition signifying the habitual,
the familiar. This repetition also suggests the places in
which we get stuck in our relationships. One moment is
passion the next is fury. | love you. | hate you. Go
away. Don’t leave me.

In this piece, the heterosexual relationship is considered.
The power dyriamics between male and female are
considered. At more than one point, Gagnon has his
hand between Gingras’ legs and lifts her by the crotch,
holds her, controls where her body will travel. But she is
‘no.victim here. Next she is picking him up and spinning
his body on the horizontal plane. Not only can she

stand by her man, she can also fling him over her hip.
‘And she quashes him, pushes him to the floor to stand
‘on his chest until he says, "I do.” Later, he pushes her
down and flails her neck until it looks like pure
whiplash and she concedes, “I do.” Then he carries her
offstage. Victory!!

In the film segments, we see couples embraced and
entangled in a real dance hall and we see people alone,
vulnerable, on a subway platform in Paris. We see
Noam and Dana re-enacting their dance again and
again, so as to suggest its continuance. The dance of
intimacy, after all, never ends

At some point we must all take a tufn at being alone.

In a moment where we anticipate the’ sexual nature of
their relationship, one dancer takes off a shirt, the two
look longingly into lovers’ eyes, then the other prompt-
ly exits the stage. Alone, s/he is left to navigate the
landscape. The pleasure, ambivalence and pain at being
left to one's self again

Watching this piece is a reflection for those of us trying
to transcend the struggle of intimacy, noting that pas-
sion can become a standoff, that the charge of two
sexually engaged individuals can easily turn to the
charge of two desperately enraged individuals.

What | didn't find in the piece, though, was the tran=
scendence itself. It spoke about the territory but did not
take me to a higher place than it. Perhaps | was asking
too much. Perhaps these answers are in a lifetime of
loving and desiring. Not in a dancehall tango.

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