The Museum of Civilization in Quebec City has recently announced, due to popular demand, that its exhibition “Rebel Bodies”, opened this past March, has been extended until April 2016.A foray into the world of modern and contemporary dance featuring work by international and Quebec-based choreographers, “Rebel Bodies” straddles the border between installation and artwork in order to parallel dance as both universal language and a reflection of society. Drawing on numerous video clips realized by Jean-Louis Pecci, along with photographs, vignettes, explanatory texts, costumes and archival materials spanning 8,500 square feet, “Rebel Bodies” is a multi-sensory feast and hyper-informative, factual account examining the many dimensions of dance.“Rebel Bodies is a tribute to Québec contemporary dance,” said Hélène David, Minister of Culture and Communications. “It’s an art built out of feats of skill, fragments of grace, and flashes of inspiration that gives us a special chance to enter into the creative process of its creators. I’m proud that the Cultural Development Agreement makes possible initiatives like this exhibition to promote the poetry of movement.”The exhibition approaches dance as transgressive and as societal shifter: as an art form that rejects the norms and refuses to be categorized as readily digestible entertainment, projecting an idea of dance as an act to set one free from legal, social, or political restrictions. “Rebel Bodies” portrays a medium through which dancers and choreographers actively subvert traditional expectation in place of initiating and affecting social change.The narrative structure of the exhibition follows a theme-based trajectory centered on six types of bodies: natural (on the organic or primitive essence of the body); virtuoso (on pushing physical boundaries); urban (exploring the relationship between body and city); altered (on transforming the nature of the body); social and political (on socio-politically engaged bodies); and multi-technological (on cross-disciplinary and technologically-mediated bodies).The challenge of the exhibition resides in answer to the question how can one present the immaterial? “Rebel Bodies” hence relies on audiovisual components in order to affect a virtual reality, for each body-related theme is reinforced by a sensorial installation placing the viewer within environments that would otherwise remain off-stage and inaccessible to public participation.“White Box”, for instance, is an in-situ space for live dance creation and experimentation equipped with consoles and lighting, enabling guest choreographers to create work in front of visitors. The aim of this exhibition-mediation activity is to offer visitors a better understanding of the choreographic process, and of choreographers, the freedom to create independent of results. Consequently, the “White Box” aims at establishing a dialogue between choreographer and audience, fostering participation of the general public.The “White Box’ has been made possible through a cultural development agreement with Ville de Québec and CALQ (Conseil des Arts and des lettres du Québec). “Residencies give audiences an experience of being immersed,” added Québec City mayor Régis Labeaume, “of entering and taking part in the process of creating contemporary dance. It’s a one-of-a-kind opportunity to witness these masters of body language at work.”When not in use, the “White Box” functions as a participatory installation: “Dance Joe” has been created by the Montreal-based new media studio, Moment Factory, in collaboration with the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault, engaging visitors not only visually but also physically. Through technology and augmented projections, it throws visitors into “Joe” (1984) - the renowned work by Canada’s most recognized choreographer, Jean-Pierre Perreault (1984-2002).“Dance Joe” invites visitors to be costumed and learn the routines of Perreault’s choreography under guidance from the voice of répétiteur, Ginelle Chagnon. Whilst they perform the sequences live, they are being filmed and the footage is then projected onto screens in the studio amidst the actual set and the filmed footage of the original work.Filmmaker Jean-Louis Pecci’s interviews with renowned choreographers, paired to footage of their work, makes for riveting viewing. The highlight of the exhibition is the circular video installation “Circle of Spring”, which pays tribute to “The Rite of Spring” - a landmark in the history of modern and contemporary dance choreographed by Vaslav Nijinski to the score of Stravinsky in 1913, which inspired choreographers of later generations such as Pina Bausch, Marie Chouinard and Maurice Béjart.Rebel Bodies exhibition runs at the Museum of Civilization in Quebec City, Canada, until April 3, 2016.
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