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.

iW THRILS TLICIT D IN

é€ cultural fo rmation of (feSwiden

ieee