Evaluate: Ottawa Dance Directive’s ‘One Hundred Extra’ seamlessly blends artwork and activism

Justine A. Chambers and Laurie Younger’s trendy dance efficiency entitled One Hundred Extra was highly effective and shifting, offering a refreshing instance of artwork as activism by two racialized girls. 

Hosted by the Ottawa Dance Directive on the Ottawa Arts Court docket in collaboration with the Nationwide Arts Centre, One Hundred Extra was a labour of affection by all who labored on it. All through the dance, the artists performed with gestures generally utilized in moments of wrestle towards systemic oppression, turning one thing very darkish into one thing stunning. 

Because the dancers and manufacturing crew grappled with what it means to withstand, it turned starkly evident to all viewers that that is the kind of artwork we’d like in as we speak’s unstable sociopolitical local weather.

Because the viewers entered the theatre, the dancers have been already onstage, wanting instantly in any respect who entered whereas pacing across the stage and counting to 100 over and over. Because the efficiency began, Chambers and Younger continued to carry the viewers of their grasp for each second of the piece. The vitality coursing by them stuffed the area and made the viewers really feel like they have been a part of the efficiency (and subsequently a part of the resistance) happening onstage. 

Whereas the efficiency had no linear plot, on no account did this equate to no story being instructed.

The piece’s point of interest was the palms up gesture, because the dancers powerfully evoked the stance typically seen within the context of police violence towards racialized folks. Chambers’ and Younger’s palms and arms assumed this place continuously all through the piece.

Chambers’ and Younger’s palms by no means rested, and have been continually pulsing, twitching, pushing and pulling. The piece was an emotional rollercoaster, with moments of sorrow, pleasure, laughter, ache and anger. Briefly, it encapsulated all it takes to be an activist in as we speak’s world. 

The efficiency was set to pulsing hip-hop beats that emulated a heartbeat or a ticking clock. 

At one second, the music lower out utterly. 

This was by far essentially the most highly effective second within the piece: Chambers and Younger stood in silence for a number of minutes with their arms held up ready of give up, with solely the sound of their very own laborious respiratory to maintain them firm. The dancers have been in a position to just do as a lot with the absence of sound and motion as they have been in its presence. 

Chambers and Younger made their extremely technical actions look seamless and simple. Their chemistry was unimaginable; whereas the 2 dancers have been not often doing the identical actions, they have been at all times linked and vitality was continually transferring between them. It was clear that the 2 girls have a robust friendship and love for one another, and their dynamic made the efficiency all of the extra pleasant. 

The dancing itself was accompanied by a easy set, consisting solely of a white curtain throughout the again and sides of the stage. The minimalist nature of the set ensured that every one eyes have been on the dancers, who stood out boldly towards their environment, carrying brightly colored pants, white button down shirts and suspenders.

The lighting, performed by Emese Csornai, was a mixture of conventional colored stage lights and strips of white gentle shining from the underside of the curtain. At instances, the lights resembled daylight streaming by the curtains, and at different instances they mimicked trembling flashes of lightning, echoed by the pulsing beat of the music. The lights got here along with the music, carried out by Victoria Cheong, to go with Chambers’ and Younger’s choreography. The technical parts seamlessly morphed with the dancers because the emotional tone shifted all through the piece.

One Hundred Extra was a tremendously stunning but necessary piece of labor. In our tumultuous day and age, creative resistance is desperately wanted, and has the facility to encourage others to take motion and be part of them within the struggle for a greater future. 

Featured picture supplied by Lana Morton.