Review - diptych: The Future Memory Heartbreak Junction

blackandblue dance projects presents
diptych: The Future Memory Heartbreak Junction
Choreographer/performer Sasha Ivanochko and dancer Brendan Wyatt
November 4- 6, 2010 at Harboufront, Toronto

The theme of this highly theatrical and innovative dance performance is love - the highs and mainly the lows of that universal human concern. The first part is a solo piece for Sasha Ivanochko as a torch singer about to go on stage. We see her inner turmoil as she sings (and tries to sing) about love in agitated movements, laden with romantic angst. There are snippets of songs and inane stage patter, rendered ironic by her frantic and anguished choreography.

Sasha is a wonderfully expressive dancer, right down to her fingernails, embodying the highs and lows of love in very dramatic and theatrical style. The set is simple, with only a brick wall facade at the back and a microphone enhanced by imaginative lighting, and the soundtrack is sometimes music, sometimes ambient street noises, sometimes silence, with only her heated breathing to punctuate it.

In the second half, she's joined by Dora Award winning dancer Brendan Wyatt. Is it the relationship remembered - a kind of "before" to the first half? Is it a reconciliation? A fantasy? Whatever it's placement in the "story", it's the diary of a dysfunctional relationship, full of passion, sensuality and uncertainty, one minute bound together and the next defiantly apart. It's a seamless blend of movement, theatrical elements, spoken word and song, the needy naked emotions shamelessly expressed.

It must be quite an exhausting piece to perform, with kudos to both dancers for a stellar performance. It's definitely worth checking out. Continues tonight and tomorrow.

Comments

  1. The amount of work and thought that went into this piece is clearly evident in the subtleties of the character, relationship and connections between the first and second half. This work is daring and rich with emotion.

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