When Pteros Tactics opens at the Winchester Street Theatre Friday night it will be markedly different from the piece premiered by Toronto Dance Theatre nearly two years ago at the Fleck. Says choreographer and TDT Artistic Director Christopher House, “The piece was a big experiment. I’d been trying to create something that was spontaneous and authentic but I tried to do it in a way that was almost anti-theatrical and it didn’t work as well as I wanted.”
After the Toronto run in February 2010, the show toured Western Canada giving House and his talented cast the opportunity to re-think their approach.
“We looked at what was really engaging and intriguing about the piece and we threw away everything that was extraneous,” House explains. “We looked for a more theatrical way to present the ideas and that’s what we’ve ended up with. It’s more kinetic, the pace is quicker. In some ways it’s more accessible and it’s more accessible because it’s more successful.”
The YouTube trailer for the show promises a dance that’s fast and funny and extremely athletic. “I liked the original production and I don’t want to give the impression that it was a flop in any way,” stresses the director, left. “I would say that the original production was cooler, more cerebral. This version is more playful and more visceral.”
House shares credit for the work with his wonderfully diverse cast which includes dancers from Eastern and Western Canada, Toronto, Mozambique, Japan and China.
“The performers are amazing in it,” enthuses House. “One of the questions around the piece, the idea of capturing an instant of desire, was how to celebrate what is most wonderful about a live experience. Like how do you make a case for that as opposed to bodies that are beautifully filmed? Why should people really care about a live performance? What are the things that are most meaningful and moving about that? We were really trying to capture that moment in the piece and in the end I think we’ve done a really good job of that.”
Pictured members of the company in Pteros Tactics. Photo by David Hou
“We did the show in a small house in Winnipeg last year and that’s why I thought it would be great to do it at The Winch this time. Because it’s very much about a connection with the audience, an awareness that the piece is happening at that instant in that space, not in some magical ideal space.”
WHERE/WHEN: Pteros Tactics at the Winchester Street Theatre (80 Winchester Street, 416.967.1365 ext. 28) October 28, 29 and November 2 – 5 at 8 pm, and October 30 at 2 pm (PWYC); tickets $20 – $26.
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