jan 17, 2012
Improv, Difference and Dance
by Laura Beeston
Improvisation, common histories and the mutual eruption of dance is what drives Thomas Hauert and Scott Heron's collaboration Like me more like me, which is taking over Studio 303 Jan. 21 and 22.
After the two artists met through a movement research improv festival
two years ago, it clicked. They knew they must combine their intense
physicality with “what came out of both of us at an early age” to create
together.
“It was kind of difficult, artistically, in periods where we [were
deciding] what could be made, what our artistic preoccupations were and
what we could put in this piece,” admitted the Belgium-based Hauert, who
will return to Montreal after nearly a decade. “But that's what's
interesting about the process.”
Living on different continents, from different backgrounds, and in
different professional circles of theatres and audiences, the two built
the piece trans-nationally and got together for weeks at a time,
spending seven-hour days in the studio, improvising.
What they found is they weren't so different after all, especially on
the floor. An innate sense of physical knowing and the desire to dance
informed both from a very young age.
“We don't agree on what this piece is all about. There was some
baseline, or theme you could distill out of it, that drove me when I
digested things, or helped us make choices, but maybe you can't see them
so clearly,” said Hauert, who speaks emphatically, physically, and with
his hands.
“[Like me more like me is] not a movement study or a conceptual
piece. It's more of a theatrical, sensual. It's not something you should
look at with your brain only,” Hauert continued. “Receive it with your
whole being, history and associationism. [...] It's more of an emotional
trip.”
“One of the million things” Hauert said Like me more like me
touches on is a sense of sentimentality. When they looked up the
definitions starting out, the duo found some were neutral, some were
“ridiculously emotional” and others were are judgmental.
He quotes poet Mason Cooley during our interview: “Fearful of
sentimentality. I disown my tears and melting hearts.” Pretty dramatic
stuff, he laughs.
“People might see all kinds of references and associations, but it's
melted together,” explained Hauert. “Nothing in particular stands out in
the piece and that's perhaps part of its strength. It became this thing
you cannot talk easily about, it's not so clear. Some people see humour
in it, think it's light and absurd, while other people thing it's very
sad and dark.”
Different circles, worlds, identities, groups and images colliding may
be the 'baseline' of this narrative, but Heron — who is based in New
York and is a well-known gender bender— was quick to point out that the
piece is still heavily grounded in theatrical sensibility.
Calling it a “hardcore dance piece,” Heron explained that both men “had
to meet in the middle. Thomas is very movement oriented, and I'm more
theatrical. We brought some of both into it.”
Hinting at his bookmark absurdities — costume changes, flamboyant camp
and “bizarre and passionate states” — Heron said the piece was drama
spread through dance.
“Some death, passion and weirdness, held together by improv in the way
we work” was the way he described what's coming, with improv acting as
the duo's strongest link.
Heron added that a particular “brotherlyness” can be pinpointed in the
piece, as they both looked at themselves as queer men with shared
experiences in different realities.
A paradoxical “twin difference,” of experience lays the foundation for this physical piece, where they build from the exchange
“We're leaving the theatre exposed on stage,” said Heron, “bringing both of ourselves into it.”
More info: Like me more like me runs Jan. 21 at 6 p.m. and Jan. 22 at 4 p.m. at Studio 303. Tickets are
$15 reg. ($20 fair-trade/$12 pre-sale, RQD, RAIQ, students)