Mettant en scene des danseuses un peu loufoques --de toutes origines, tailles, gabarits, age ( y compris quelques enfants), evoluant ensemble pour raconter l' histoire, la provenance de leurs aieux se rencontrant sur/ ou en allant vers le nouveau monde-- Elles retracent leurs histoires a travers des expressions variees inattendues parfois absurdes --conferant une modernite, une tournure personnelle d'une grande gaiete a ces expressions artistiques heteroclites un peu ubuesques. Classiquement les premiers tableaux se faisaient via le mouvement sur des musiques modernes et abstraites d'Anthony Uncertain mais aussi sur des chansons de Barbara (Amoureuse et Quand reviendras- tu?) et Otis Redding "I've been loving you"-- sur pointes. Costumes et maquillages etonnants donnaient l'impression par moment de se retrouver dans des scenes de Blade Runner. Le theatre etait egalement present --avec textes declames et projection de videos -- type publicites un peu saugrenues evocatrices des inquietudes lies a l'avenir en matiere d'ecologie-- la purete de l'eau, de l'air, et aussi en matiere de bien etre : une envie de vitalite, de force, de permanence symbolisee par le sang et un personnage de vampire. En resume --une expression riche et originale mettant en scene avec beaucoup de fraicheur, d'humour, d'abstraction, d'absurdite une reflexion philosophique autour des sempiternelles questions des etres humains sur leur trajectoire : d'ou viens-je? -- ou vais--je? et que faut il en penser ? Sommes nous satisfaits de nos choix?
Rough translation from French to English:
Setting a scene of a little wacky dancers -- of all backgrounds, sizes, patterns, age (including several children), moving together to tell the story, the origin of their ancestors arriving in and/or going to the New World. They trace their history through the sometimes absurd unexpected varied expressions --showing a modernity, a personal twist of great merriment to these disparate artistic expressions a little grotesque. Conventionally, the first paintings were done via movement on modern music by the abstract Anthony Uncertain but also songs of Barbara ("Amoureuse" & "Quand Reviendras- Tu?") and Otis Redding ("I've Been Loving You") - on Pointe. Costumes and makeup gave the impression at times of being in Blade Runner movies. The theatricality was also present --with spoken texts and projected videos - commercial-like and a bit absurd. They were evoking feeling of worry about the future of ecology-- the purity of water and air, and also in matters of wellness: a desire for vitality, strength, permanence symbolized by blood and a vampire character. In summary --a rich and original expression using the stage with much freshness, humor, abstraction. It was a philosophical and absurd reflection of the endless question of human beings on their path: to come or go? -- Where am I going? What should we think? Are we satisfied with our choices?
Claire de Margerie-Pezeu, blogger, october 2014
As in any dream, the fragments of various strands of memory entwine and evolve without rhyme or reason - the girls change swiftly from pointe to pumps - but the overall impression is cohesive.
Philip Gardiner, Oberon's grove, July 2011
In this melting story no single dancer played the dreamer; and all of the dancers played the dreams. In an early scene, sleeping Georgina Aragon curled on the floor as an elegant Ward circled her. Ward also led a trio of ballerinas, with Cassie Roberts and Jen Barrer-Gall, as the glue of this dream, wending in and out of scenes, elegant, long-legged, beautifully balanced. They were replaced by barefoot and high-heeled dancers, as well as shifting watery film fragments, but the trio of ballerinas kept returning. Images in red also wove through this dream – red cloth disks to Spanish music, red scarves and headbands, red hair, and best, red high heels.
Like the story itself, the elements were hard to follow (as dreams are,) but the movement felt familiar, as if we’d been there ourselves. In the most magical scene, the dreamer slept as dancers with handheld lights circled around her like fireflies in the dark. Other scenes used the combination of mixed shoes and parallel movements to charming effect, like a trio of prances in ballet shoes, high heels, and bare feet.
Martha sherman, dance view times, august 2011
... the production as a whole tried to be a comic evocation of life's unexpected entanglements.
Jack Anderson, The New York Times, September 2004
That easygoing, pressure-free feeling of two creatures in wigs and brightly colored space outfits romping around without a care in the world is just the sentiment Ward would like her audiences to take home with them.
New York Resident, August 2003
Laura Ward boldly juxtaposes curves and lines...
