length: 40 minutes
In ancient times, materia prima was the original formless substance underlying all matter. The alchemist sought to alter this initial state of chaos to achieve “gnosis”. Armed with this knowledge, the Alchemist avidly desires to impose his order over the chaos of the world, to play God. The world is his laboratory. Humans his raw matter.
A young man enters this lab. The space comes to life as he dances. The sound of his voice and footsteps captured by microphones are extracted, manipulated and coagulated into wicked forms. The puppeteer knows how to quench the dancer’s restless thirst for life: with chants and epic music. The dancer may attempt to break free from the grasp of the machine, yet the music animates him. He is hypnotised by the sirens song calling for the upcoming war.
Will he get in tune with the times and end up as canon fodder? Will the alchemist succeed in keeping him spellbound, so he may continue to rule over him? Or will he have the courage to find his true form?
choreography, original music Alejandro Sajgalik
performance Jack Dexter
lighting design Tamara Andrea Gonzalez-Mora
live electronics, spatialization Alejandro Sajgalik
technical residency Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique
financial support from Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Canada Council for the Arts.
Tangente (Montreal)