NAC DANCE PRESENTS: AH / HA DANCE PERFORMANCE WITH LISBETH GRUWEZ AND VOETVOLK
When I was in Yoga Teacher Training School, I failed miserably at one thing.
I had to work so hard at perfecting the one thing that proved elusive to me no mater how much effort and concentration I put in. I failed at meditation. I couldn’t even sit for one damn minute to do a proper meditation without touching my hair or scratching the tip of my nose… let alone free my thoughts.
Until one day my Yoga Guru made me realize… I was approaching it all wrong. Though to be perfectly frank, I didn’t a guru of any kind to tell me I was not doing it right, I could see that through my complete lack of meditative state throughout the whole semester.
Meditation: Final Grade – F.
On the other hand, when I was in Dance School, which lasted from childhood all throughout high school and just before university, where I had to make some adult-like decision making process of choosing a major, which was limited to Law, Medicine and Engineering and absolutely not Dance or Theatre. During those many years of dancing and competing and traveling to dance and compete some more, I realized one thing, right there during those moments, I was lost in meditation.
One does not have to sit in a full lotus pose with one’s hands to heart in a prayer pose gently humming Om… Though that certainly helps. Meditation is getting lost in something you love doing that you get lost in time and space. Whether it be writing, painting, sculpting, dancing or even laughing.
In those years past, I was lost in the movement, the music, the flow that it didn’t matter that Fridays blended into Saturdays and Sundays for grueling dance practices. We paid no heed to sore muscles, aching bodies and bloody feet. We did not even complain when we were subjected to some slightly veiled physical and verbal un-niceness to say it politely. Our Master Choreographer and Dance Teacher was infamous for throwing tantrums, screaming fits and throwing and smashing things around like the stereo, these were the days before miniature iPods.
All for the name of art.
And that art, that meditation was dance.
AH / HA DANCE PERFORMANCE WITH LISBETH GRUWEZ AND COMPANY
In Lisbeth Gruwez case, I suppose it would be the meditation of laughter and dance. Or laughter in dance for that matter.
Lisbeth Gruwez (°Kortrijk, Belgium 1977), in collaboration with her creative partner, sound artist Maarten Van Cauwenberghe (Beveren, 1976) together Voetvolk – investigate laughter in AH / HA. A project that they’ve launched since 2014 is the first group performance of Voetvolk. It explores the mechanics of laughter with five dancers, including Gruwez herself, as they converge and gravitate towards one another, isolated yet seeking communion. “They begin to laugh – silently, emphatically, raucously, timidly.”
In terms of themes for dances, perhaps AH / HA’s timing couldn’t have been more perfect. In today’s world of hyper connectedness due to the endless stream of technology and social media, there lies a real isolation and disconnectedness. That isolation is pervasive, it’s all consuming yet so is laughter. Once it starts laughter, just like Gruwez’s dance interpretation of the vocabulary of the body laughing – slapped thighs, bodies crumpled in delirium, the torso shaking helplessly – is universal.
LISBETH GRUWEZ and VOETVOLK is at the NAC – October 6, 7, 8
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LOSE YOURSELF IN THE MEDITATION OF DANCE AND LAUGHTER WITH LISBETH GRUWEZ AH/HA AT THE NAC
With only 3 nights of performances, don’t miss Lisbeth Gruwez and Voetvolk’s Ah / HA at the National Arts Centre. From October 6, 7 and 8 (Performance starts at 8 pm each evening for approximately 60 minutes.), catch this captivating, unifying and provocative dance. You can purchase your tickets online here, in person at the Nac Box Office or you can order by phone by calling 1 888 991-2787.
FELT FLOPPY HAT & GOLD ACCESSORIES c/o LE CHATEAU, Statement ring – H&M
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EXPERIENCE THE MAGIC AT THE NAC WITH ITS 2016 – 2017 LINE-UP
For more details about the Lisbeth Gruwez’s AH / HA and other upcoming shows and performances at the National Arts Centre, visit their website here to explore their incredible line-up for the 2016 – 2017 season. From the NAC Orchestra to the NAC Dance, from the English Theatre and French Theatre to the world renowned NAC Orchestra, from red carpet galas to more intimate evenings at the Fourth Stage, there is something in there that would truly delight everyone – young and old… and young at heart!
You can purchase your tickets online here, or at the NAC Box Office over the phone.
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Lisbeth Gruwetz and Co. starts on October 8, 2016! Will you get lost in laughter and in dance? See you at the NAC!
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