Noam Gagnon may be best known as one half of anarchic ’90s dance phenom Holy Body Tattoo, but his exploration of the limits of dance has changed dramatically since his days of crafting single-minded, impenetrable punk ballets.
In This Crazy Show, the powerhouse French Canadian dancer and choreographer (performing under his solo persona, Vision Impure, and armed with blonde wig) tackles a vulnerable, textural, four-part concept of transformation, transfiguration, gender and identity. The stage set features 16 disco balls, clips from classic ’70s superhero series The Bionic Woman (which Gagnon adored as a child), a live accordion player and appearances by a mysterious Leigh Bowery-type figure.
“I guess what I was aiming to do was create a succession of tableaus without any logical sense,” the Vancouver resident begins, with a laugh. “Trying to push eccentricity and follies and madness to its fullest. I wanted to create a landscape to speak about a man and love and a few other fucked-up things.
“My work usually lives in the guts, in the viscera,” he adds, “and so this time I wanted to do something that was much more theatrical.”
As if that isn’t enough, Gagnon says he even drew inspiration from the different states of plastic – which might, when you list it all together, seem like a grab bag of anything-goes artistry. But in Gagnon’s capable hands, it’s all rooted in the idea of exploring the fluidity of childhood, and how a single body and identity can morph to represent new states of being.
“In terms of going into different gender roles and trying to find those different states, I was thinking about the word ‘play’ and how it relates to children: changing roles, personalities, imagining themselves to be a superhero or wearing their mother’s shoes or sister’s dress,” he explains. “It doesn’t necessarily define them; it’s just a state of being that they embrace without any judgment. There is something quite powerful about that state, where you can really allow yourself to recreate yourself at any time.”
To find that place, Gagnon brought in a dynamic team of creative advisors: dramaturge James Fagan Tait (whom he previously partnered with in 2011’s madcap Thank You, You’re Not Welcome), composer James Coomber (The North Plan, This is War), and director (and Cirque du Soleil coaching alum) Danielle Lecourtois.
“I really don’t always love the process [of being a creator and dancer]. I find it more and more difficult, almost impossible,” the 53-year-old admits. “So having a team of people who are extremely different from the kind of world I lived in before, and the kind of work I’ve created and produced, was really crucial.”
Lecourtois, in particular, brought out a side of Gagnon he had yet to test, even after almost four decades in dance.
“Danielle is crazy in the most beautiful way,” Gagnon says, chuckling. “She just really pushed me to embrace [the process]. At one point she was saying, ‘We’re going to do theatre for children!’ And I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’… And we went and got some amazing clothes in second-hand shops and I was like, ‘No, no! I’m not putting that on.’
And she was like, ‘Put it on. What’s the safe word? The safe word is yes. Yes for everything.’”
• This Crazy Show runs Oct. 20-22 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre (677 Davie). Tickets $32-$24. TheDanceCentre.ca
