Anatomica: André Gingras brings Dance Works Rotterdam to the NAC
By Scott Lillico
Wednesday night’s performance of Anatomica at the National Arts Centre was sexy, humorous, and abstract. Walking into the show the audience was greeted to upbeat music and a line of dancers showing off in a light, fun way. It was like an introduction to the elements of the show – love, sex, attraction, appearance, and passion… The human experience.
The first solo in Anatomica #1 was a hilarious encompassment of a huge range of phrases, actions, and gestures related to a person overcome with love, lust, and passion. His performance was delightfully compacted into about 5 minutes and bursting from an enthusiastic, expressive body.
From here, the performance moved into several sets of movements taking you through the interaction of lovers and across a range of potential experiences, not always pleasant.
The intermission was graced with a silent figure dressed as Andy Warhol, wandering the aisles, and taking Polaroids of audience members and handing them out. As Warhol wandered to centre stage, (signaling for the second act of the show to begin), he was the first of a slowly accumulating line of nine synchronized Andy Warhol dancers. An interesting opening to the second part!
The second performance, Anatomica #3, brought bodies together in groups running across the stage or flying in leaps and bounds up a ramp and onto mattresses. The audience was treated to the visual abstraction of an experience and left to make their own wandering conclusions about the meaning and intentions within.
The show allows us to reflect on our own silly actions in the name of love, lust and romance. Perhaps right now, even you are about to make a fool of yourself in the name of love, or fall off the edge of a short cliff?
All in all, the performance brought light to the fun side of love and lust without excessive focus on the pain and despair of heartbreak. Thanks to André Gingras and Dance Works Rotterdam for a fresh Wednesday night in the city.
