by Yanik Comeau (Comunik Média/ZoneCulture)
With governments, social organizations and artistic communities trying to right century-old wrongs with indigenous peoples across the globe, both the performing and visual arts have seen an explosion of shows – often autobiographical – that depict the injustices and horrors inflicted on First Nations everywhere. Obviously, here in Montréal, both the franco and anglo theatre and dance scenes have seen their share but with Festival TransAmériques opening up the international gates, Montrealers can experience Australian/Thai aboriginal choreographer/dancer/performer Amrita Hepi’s surprisingly refreshing, entertaining, funny yet profound Rinse at Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal’s beautiful Théâtre Rouge.
With this first-time visit to FTA, Amrita Hepi offers a very personal solo that she created two years ago and in which she explores both the history of humankind and her own personal journey through the lens of dance. Because Amrita Hepi is both a product of her indigenous heritage and her studies in modern dance, she and cowriter and director Mish Grigor paint a very ironic, tongue-in-cheek portrait of relations between contemporary and indigenous traditions in dance throughout history.
The script and stage direction perfectly balance out the dance “numbers” which also include some fun winks at so many dance genres, schools, teachers, choreographers which dance connoisseurs in the audience just gobbled up with delectable pleasure on opening night. Original music created by Daniel Janatsch is eclectic and goes in all directions, allowing for the performer to explore a vast array of emotions as well as strong visual expression through her body. Although for this piece, Amrita Hepi stays clear of very elaborate dance moves, allowing her to deploy her acting chops and exploiting her great sense of interaction with the audience (even improvising a few lines when breaking the fourth wall to talk about her mic pack falling while matter-of-factly putting it back in place without missing a beat), die-hard dance fans will not feel slighted. Au contraire!
This is the perfect show for FTA that started out - for those old enough to remember - as Festival de Théâtre des Amériques and has integrated more and more dance shows through the years. Rinse’s perfect mix of word and movement, cultural, social and artistic relevance makes it a nice gem.
Rinse Created, choreographed, written and performed by Amrita Hepi Directed and co-written by Mish Grigor Sound Design and Composer: Daniel Jenatsch Lighting Design: Matt Adey Engagement supported by: Australian Government – Creative Australia Presented in association with Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Montréal Premiered at Performance Space, Carriageworks (Eveleigh), on Octobre 27, 2022 Production: Performing Lines Saturday May 25th 7pm, Sunday May 26th 3pm, Tuesday May 28th 7pm, Wednesday May 29th 7pm and Thursday May 30th 7pm (duration: approx. 50 minutes – no intermission - In English with French surtitles) Festival TransAmériques Théâtre Rouge, Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique de Montréal, 4750, rue Henri-Julien, Montréal