O Vertigo - the Essence of Ginette Laurin's Choreography

I never thought this would be my career. I had been a dancer at various companies in Montreal and worked with choreographers who relied heavily on improvisation so they gave me the motivation to come forward with my own ideas. First I prepared shorter pieces, then I started working with Daniel Léveillé as artistic director. The company was named Léveillé Laurin Dance, but after he left, I changed the name to O Vertigo, employed a few new dancers and started working independently with them.

 

 

I initially gave myself two years to create something with the company and here I am now, O Vertigo still exists and works regularly. I enjoy the choreography work I do with these dancers and the fact that I can share my ideas with a team and contribute to the development of dance. There are few choreographers in Canada who have a classical basic training - such as in ballet. Modern dance has a stronger presence and sooner or later all creative people will develop their own style. My version is very dynamic because I was basically a gymnast. That's why I named the company O Vertigo, because, in French, it is a form of nerve disease in horses, which makes them move in an unusual way. Let's just say this is the essence of my choreography.

 

The explanation is simple. There were so many artistic groups - and even a big record company -- named Vertigo at the time that I used the letter O to be different from them.  In addition, we are considered quite Latin in Montreal.

 

 

I like things to develop in layers, when there is plenty of action and if you can look at movement like a picture book that helps you put together the story. I often use video or introduce my dancers to special theatrical situations. There is plenty of drama but no linear story-telling.

 

 

Perhaps about a mental institute or about people locked up in their own identity, about fragility caused by the loss of control and balance at a psychological and physical level. After creating the performance, we toured with it around the world for three years, from Asia to South America and to Europe. They interpreted it in completely different ways at the different locations. When we performed it in Israel and people associated it with the Holocaust, quite understandably. The essence of the piece is violence after all; it was actually inspired by a massacre in Quebec. A man killed fourteen female university students for no apparent reason at all. Such incidents occur in America and also in Canada even to this day. Everyone thinks about them and everyone is disturbed by them.

 

What differences can you see between your older and later works?

 

I believe I grow wiser as I get older: I can go deeper and deeper. Earlier, I was involved in finding the right language and now I am eager to say something through this language, so perhaps my pieces are becoming more socially committed.

 

 

It is important that they should be in good physical condition and have a strong personality. They must have the ability to play like an actor and it is important for me to catch their character during rehearsals. Because after some time, we must create together. It is a fact that dancers can only be active for a short period in their career. Only one of the current dancers in O Vertigo was in the original company. There are nine of them on stage at the moment.  Music is essential. White Room is currently performed with new music, composed especially for the piece, and the lighting has also been re-designed. Only the costumes are the same. The person who originally made them died ten years ago and so the piece is partly an homage to this person. You see, I have several reasons to love this piece even though I have made many since.  White Room is perhaps the one that stands closest to my language and my world view.