By Megan Payne
On Oct. 26, 27, and 28, Ottawa Dance Directive (ODD) and Series Dance 10 #48 are presenting two solo performances by Canadian dancers Jillian Peever and Charles-Alexis Desgagnés of Personne Danse at the ODD BOX in the Arts Court Theatre.
Photo by Marion Voysey
The evening opens with Jillian Peever’s performance of The View from Here, choreographed by Sasha Ivanochko. Peever is a dancer based out of Toronto and has worked closely with Ivanochko in short sessions from 2019 to 2021 to create and refine this choreography. It premiered at The Citadel in Toronto on Dec. 1, 2021.
As the audience entered the room on Oct. 26, Peever was already there, standing on a platform roughly two metres by two metres at the centre of the space. Her blonde hair was covering her face. She was dressed in a long vest-like dress designed and created by Tanya White. It looked natural—almost delicate and wispy. While she stood still on the platform, her movements were controlled and contained, only noticeable when she had one’s full attention. Her control over her movement and her usage of time heightened the tension as the performance progressed. Moments of slower movement were punctuated with bursts of intense physicality as the performer filled the small platform space. The tension finally peaked in the last part of the performance, giving the audience a satisfying and memorable conclusion.
Charles-Alexis Desgagnés of Personne Danse choreographed and performed a piece titled The Call of the Embers as the second performance of the evening. This piece premiered on Oct. 11, 2023 at L’Agora de la danse in Montreal.
Photo by Marc-Antoine Hallé
When entering the performance space after the intermission, the audience was met with inky darkness. Then, the performer stepped out, and sat at the front of the stage wearing a pair of blue trousers and taking time to put on a tan coloured shirt, almost breaking the fourth wall by meeting audience members’ gazes as they watched. What came next was a performance that one can only characterize by its fluidity, as if the movements came from instinct rather than instruction. Desgagnés displayed a profound sense of vulnerability in his way of performing this choreography. In all, this performance was remarkable for the dancer’s vulnerability and for the effective use of lighting to enhance the dancer’s creative vision.
Catch the last night of performances for these spectacular dancers on Oct. 28 at 7:30pm at ODD BOX in the Arts Court Theatre.
