Édouard Lock is a world renowned choreographer and founder of the contemporary dance company La La La Human Steps. His newest work Écho, is a evening of cinematographic performance and live dance performance.
This performance is aptly named Écho as it is a film that echoes on stage. It is choreography that you watch on a screen that you then see in the flesh.
The choreography is super focused on smooth and small movement but it’s a bit disappointing to see the same exact movement on screen and on stage. There is no variation on it, even though the contrast of watching on screen and seeing the full muscles and strength on stage is there, it isn’t worth the repetition of the entire work in a different medium. Rachel Buriassi, Principal dancer of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, is so precise in her movement. It’s simple, isolated movement, in pools of light. It’s an examination of contrasts and the strength of a ballerina, depicted by the contrast in black and white and the contrast of two dimensional presentation and three dimensional presentation. It’s a study that could take on so much more, but seems hyper focused on one thing.
With a great canvas to work with, Lock only paints on the human body in one colour, though it there is a clear artistic idea and exploration surrounding ballet and the precision of movement.
Édouard Lock’s Écho was part of the High Performance Rodeo, a co-presentation by One Yellow Rabbit and Springboard Performance.