The Beach and Other Stories
Contemporary Tropisms
At home or in public space, images are everywhere. They seduce the eye, blur our shared stories and orient our future. For choreographer and dancer Maria Kefirova, they are rivers of meaning that a mere gesture of tenderness can reactivate. The Beach and Other Stories is a solo piece about photographic infiltration, that it is created in full complicity with the audience.
Somewhere between a neighborhood alley and a darkroom, a storyteller short-circuits the suggestive power of images, recasting our imaginary worlds and rewriting our stories. She lets herself drift from one photograph to another, slips among the various protagonists, comments, laughs, and recounts her own story. Her gestures and words flow along a current that runs freely, activating our sightlines, our memories, the material before us: a jubilant dance inspired by fiction, a rediscovery of the graceful art of play.
About the artist
Maria Kefirova (Montreal)
Maria Kefirova is a performer-researcher with a crystalline mind, known for her experimental works and her ability to take an idea to its logical conclusion, turning the stage into a laboratory. A Bulgarian-born choreographer based in Montreal, she is a pillar of the independent dance and performance scene.
Media Coverage
“Kefirova’s compelling cross-disciplinary performance and art practice reverberates with her research into affective complexities.”
Philip Szporer, The Dance Current, 2014-02-18, about The Nutcracker
“The woman is a genius.”
Bettina Forget, Movement Museum, 2010-03-11, about Corps.Relations
“D’une rare et lumineuse intelligence.’’
Catherine Lalonde, Le Devoir, 2016-11-18, about Why are dogs successful on stage ?
“The choreographer continues to fascinate.”
Sylvain Verstricht, Local gestures, 2014-01-31, about The Nutcracker
Interview
“In contrast to my previous works, in The Beach I tried to get rid of all forms of abstraction by turning to a much more concrete creative strategy: writing. I also wanted to work from a tangible form, one that already existed—photographs. We chose a set of photos taken by Olivier Tulliez depicting Bulgarian daily life between 1996 and 1998.”
Schedule
- Fri02Jun9 p.m.
- Sat*03Jun9 p.m.
- Sun04Jun5 p.m.
