forbodyand light

HURRICANE

Linnea Gwiazda and Heather Lynn Macdonald performing 

in For Body and Light's l'Embarquement show 

at Mainline Theatre (Dec 2013). Photo Michael Kovacs

text written and performed by Ian Ferrier

choreography by Stéphanie Morin-Robert

Last fall's Canadian Festival of Spoken word opened with a full house for poet orientation. There was complimentary poutine from a truck on the street and some amazingly diverse spoken word performance that was combined with a gorgeous dance piece by for body and light, a Montreal based troupe that  I have had the pleasure of seeing twice - as part of the MIle End Poetry Festival and more recently the annual Canadian Spoken Word extravaganza. Poet's from across the country packed the space at Divan Orange and created an atmosphere of excitement and divine poetic excess for the dancers to work within. 

The work by for body and light  is a fabulous combination of poetry, dance theatre, performance, and visually stunning lighting and choreography. Acclaimed Spoken Word artist Ian Ferrier accompanied the dancers and contributed to an incredible atmospheric experience for a short piece entitled Hurricane. 

Ferrier's dulcet soothing tones surrounded the performance within the simultaneously powerful and comforting soundscape he is known for in his distinct combination of melodious guitar accompaniment and a kind of soft yet commanding presence through voice and word. With choreography by Stéphanie Morin-Robert, dancers Heather Lynn Macdonald and Linnea Gwiazda inhabited a very small section of the stage and carefully and methodically committed their bodies to a contemplative, at times subtly explosive relationship with onstage water. The juxtaposition of their bodies, closely aligned with each other, and the always unpredictable nature of water onstage and off, created an intense tension for the choreography to blossom within. Gradual movement became seamlessly entwined with Ferrier's evocative narrative, and moved into a finely conceived commingling of fluid engrossing physical and verbal imagery - bringing home the central notion of how a hurricane can overwhelm both body and spirit with weightlessness, spinning upheaval, and a sense of metaphoric transformation into interpretive realms ranging from images of grandmothers, wagonriders, invading armies, and JOYful tatoos.

About to embark on a North American tour, for body and light has created an impressive repertoire of dance performance that does precisely what their name promises. Creative use of lamps as hand held props, sharp lighting effects, minimal yet evocative onstage environments, and the beauty and power of a poet's words give the company an exciting and vast field of dance performance possibility to work within. 

For examples for of body and light's work go to -

http://forbodyandlight.org

HURRICANE

       
written & performed by Ian Ferrier

When you are driving into a hurricane

you will first feel weightless

as if you made an ominous

wrong choice in life

a choice to defy even gravity

and as your car lifts off the road

you will wonder why you are

the only soul headed in your direction

and why in the afternoon sky gone dark

dark clouds are stacked so high you cannot

imagine light above them

the divided highway in the other direction

crawls with cars, trucks, carpets, pets, cattle,

grandmothers and wagonriders

abandoning the deserted island

your destination.

II

You will find yourself in a darkened city,

standing in a doorway for which

your keys don’t fit the lock

and the only people who befriend you

are those worse off than you—Tibetan cab driver

tick talk as the sound of the meter

times his country rocked by invading armies,

houses and beliefs crumbling

finger on the prayer bowl spinning

all of us into hell

III

At the height of the hurricane you will see a tall boy and a girl in a black linen dress running down the avenue in the rain,

under the torn awning of your restaurant window

they stop to kiss,

and she reaches high high up to gather all of him into her heart,

and he lifts and twirls her and there three letters

tattooed up her neck

 J  -  O  -  Y

and when her kiss has made him breathless,

he will hold both her hands,

suggest, beseech that they

run for the shelter of their bed. 

And in that instant, JOY will leave him,

exiting frame left, and he left

standing in the rain, rain wracking the ribs of his

destroyed umbrella

IV

When you walk into the center of a hurricane,

damage and beauty will be all that surround you

you will be awe-struck by the epic of your life. 

And will give all your possessions

to possess only that moment,

of love, danger, beauty, power

fear, darkness, rain, twilight. 

Trees falling crowds milling train leveled

wind thrown umbrellas javelins

sails leaves, billboards and lights,

the beaches collapsing collapsing

when you are driving

when you are driving