A Vancouver- and Montreal-based artist will dance between the lines of comfort and fear this weekend.
As presented by the Crimson Coast Dance Society, the co-founder of the Plastic Orchid Factory James Gnam, who spent several childhood years in Nanaimo, introduces his fourth performance in the city, ‘Entre Chien Et Loup.’
The title, which translates to ‘between dog and wolf,’ is an French expression used to describe the time of day when the light is so dim, it’s near impossible to distinguish a dog from a wolf. The gloaming, also known as twilight, is when it can’t be discerned what is what and when details escape immediate comprehension, as described by a release for the show.
The release added that “this technology-infused dance develops through cosplay and child-like inquisitiveness, reaching into the thresholds of the familiar and unfamiliar, of safety and threat, of human nature turning wild and uneasiness replacing certainty.”
As his latest solo work, Gnam’s dance aims to shine a light on the fear, curiosity and beauty evoked by uncertainty. It becomes a metaphor and reference about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and an evolving relationship with digital technology.
As quoted by Jean Genet’s book Prisoner of Love, translated by Barbara Bray, it is “in that time between the dog and the wolf, we might feel deceived by our eyes, caught somewhere between comfort and fear, between what is real and unreal. It is a time transformation, “The hour in which every being becomes their own shadow, and thus something other than themselves. The hour of metamorphoses, when people half hope, half fear that a dog will become a wolf.”
Entre Chien Et Loup will be performed at Vancouver Island University’s Malaspina Theatre on Saturday, May 25, at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets for the show can be purchased online at www.crimsoncoastdance.com.
READ MORE: Crimson Coast presents a story about cultural identity for Black History month
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