- El 12
- Compagnie La Otra Orilla
- DanceWorks
- Enwave Theatre
- In Toronto on Friday
The Montreal flamenco troupe Compagnie La Otra Orilla is truly original. One could sense the audience's bemusement, even bewilderment, at the beginning of the performance, but by the end, the company had come and conquered.
In Spanish "la otra orilla" means "the other shore", which, in flamenco terms, refers to the suburbs across the Guadalquivir River from Seville. There flamenco is less refined, even different, and La Otra Orilla certainly encapsulates its name.
Founded in 2006, the company is headed by choreographer/dancer Myriam Allard, and director/singer Hedi "el Moro" Graja. They are supported by a superb group of musicians - composer/guitarist Caroline Planté, guitarist Kraig Adams, and percussionist Eric Breton - who are cunningly integrated into the choreography.
La Otra Orilla presents full-length, multidisciplinary, thematic works. In traditional flamenco companies, it is all about the fusion of dance and song. La Otra Orilla adds the element of concept. The show El 12 (El Doce) is an exploration of the mystical number 12 in its many meanings.
First, flamenco's basic rhythm is 12-beats which underlines the dance. But the production also references the 12 hours of the day and the 12 months of the year which, in turn, are metaphors for the passage of time.
As the programs notes say, El 12 is about memory and hope, yesterday and tomorrow, human resistance and the will to live. The production is made up of vignettes, each one addressing aspects of this theme, and each accompanied by a costume change for Allard designed by Susana Vera. Laurent Routhier's lighting adds drama to the mix. The stunning video projections by Geneviève Allard provide evocative images throughout.
As the show opens, the screen displays the inner workings of a clock. Dancer Allard is sitting on a stool, her back to us. As the images move through ever-changing perspectives of the clock's intricate mechanics, Allard becomes the clock itself, her arms capturing in gestures the relentless movement of time.
Finally her entire body is in motion, feet stamping, torso swaying, arms gesticulating, but she doesn't look like a traditional flamenco dancer. Rather, Allard uses the conventions of flamenco dance in radical ways. Her arms windmill. Her body becomes robotic. Her feet break rhythm as counterpoint. Her dramatic pauses capture not the silhouette of flamenco, but the statement of theme.
Another vignette shows urban angst with Allard garbed in a trench coat, staggering and then collapsing. Another time, she wears an old-fashioned Edwardian costume, carrying a fan that when opened, drops the dust of ages as she performs delicate steps from another century. The joyous ending has her dressed as a little girl in a short skirt playing hopscotch.
Always there is the stately progression of the music ensemble into different positions on stage, integrated into the theme because their movement also represents the passing of time. The projections are always surprising, such as the shape of an old Victrola (to go with the Edwardian dress). This company even moves away briefly from flamenco to throw in a recording of Jacques Brel's Les Vieux to go with the Victrola.
Cantor Graja is a passionate singer, a low baritone and not the traditional flamenco tenor, his husky, growling voice giving an edge to the dance. But at the centre is the charismatic Allard, her intensity palpable, her movement anchored in flamenco, but always imaginatively transformed.
La Otra Orilla performs in Trois-Rivières, May 1, and Vancouver's Dancing on the Edge Festival in July.