ab intra in the Toronto Fringe Festival 2011

ab intra

Choreography/Dancers: Kate Nankervis, Amanda Acorn, Elke Schroeder
Toronto Fringe Theatre Festival
Tarragon Theatre Mainspace

REVIEWED BY TED FOX FOR EVIDANCERADIO.COM

The Bonne Compagnie's production of ab intra is gripping, dream-like and at times humorous, with exciting movement vocabulary.

In three solos, women react and come to terms with the memories housed within their bodies. Since they are in the same room, and all have sometimes similar reactions, one wonders if the room is feeding memories of each to each other.

The room has a desk, a lamp and a table. The lamp is the main light source, leaving the room enclosed within darkness. 

One woman (Kate Nankervis) launches paper airplanes, lies corpse-like on the desk under the lamp's surgical light, listens to the wall or moves and gestures robotically. Another (Amanda Acorn) slithers snake-like across the floor, pulls and stretches trying to straighten up and regain balance, only to be flattened. The last woman (Elke Schroeder) has the twisted grotesque feral movements of one possessed. Splayed on the floor, she grips the back of her head with her hand, as if trying to put it back on.

All go through a sort of release mentally and physically that is transforming and liberating.

The soundscapes by Linedrawing, Christopher Wiles and J-P Tamblyn utilize textures of sound waves, underwater sonar, radio static, muffled voices, even Elvis Presley and a bit of ragtime. These sounds suggest waves of memories caught in a suspension of time.