Con grazia

Sweetly, Tenderly, Absolutely

Masters in the art of giving visual form to sounds, the virtuoso jacks of all trades and movement maestri Martin Messier and Anne Thériault are human detonators shattering the tension of an opus dedicated to the demolition of objects. In Con grazia they sound the knell of the death of matter. In the shadow of meticulous, performative destruction, machines rumble and roar, ready to create chaos.

They go at it with vigour, hammering away to a precisely determined score, with much clanging and clashing as objects selected for their spherical harmony burst into bits in a blur as gloves, sledgehammer blows and movements flash before the eye. The hands think and strike. Manipulated by the performers, light sources imprint little miracles on the retina. Lamps caress what destruction has wrought from beauty. Messier and Thériault pulverize with grace, torturing the ripe fruit in a musical, rhythmic carnage that is intensely sensorial. An unsettling ode to the agony of the material world.

Produced by 14 lieux + Lorganisme
Ideation Martin Messier
Directed, co-created and performed by Martin Messier + Anne Thériault
Lighting design Martin Messier + Anne Thériault
Music Martin Messier
Visual design Thomas Payette
Robotics Louis-Thomas Schreiber
Outside eye Patrick Lamothe

Co-produced by Festival TransAmériques
Creative residencies Circuit-Est Centre chorégraphique + Théâtre Hector-Charland (L’Assomption)
This show is part of Printemps numérique 2016 de Montréal.

Premiered at FTA, Montreal, June 1, 2016