I’LL CRANE FOR YOU choreography by Deborah Hay. Presented by Toronto Dance Theatre at the Winchester Street Theatre (80 Winchester). Opens Thursday (January 15) and runs to January 18, Thursday-Saturday 8 pm, Sunday 2 pm. $20-$26. 416-967-1365, tdt.org/craneforyou.
There probably aren’t two more restlessly curious and questioning minds working in North American dance today than Judson Church founding member Deborah Hay and Toronto Dance Theatre (TDT) artistic director Christopher House. So it’s no surprise that they’ve forged a remarkable professional and personal connection over the past eight years.
House’s adaptation and performance of Hay’s solo I’ll Crane For You is the latest expression of that connection. It’s part of the Solo Performance Commissioning Project, works choreographed by Hay for performers to make their own. Doing these pieces involves a contractual requirement to dance them many times in solitude before sharing them with an audience. House learned I’ll Crane For You in 2008 at Hay’s legendary annual artist retreat in Findhorn, Scotland. It’s been with him – in one form or another – ever since.
House says he’s benefited tremendously – as a teacher and choreographer as well as a dancer – from Hay’s radical approach to performance. Her scores are collections of instructions for the dance, some very technical and many describing tasks to carry out or states of mind.
In the hour-long piece, House is required to “build something massive while moving quickly using non-ordinary tools,” or “perform a blurry dance in blurry space, increasing the stage space occupied,” at certain points “messing with the history of the fourth wall” or “removing the tendency to hesitate.”
As I watch a run-through of the solo (which is presented in silence), I notice gestures and expressions I’ve never seen from House before. He’s not creating a character, however. Rather, the piece demands that he dig within personal stores of memory and intellect to deliver an in-the-moment interpretation that is true to himself as well as honouring his commitment to Hay and her work. It’s a daunting task. House likens upcoming performances of I’ll Crane For You to “entering an arena with no shield and no sword… with an hour of potential failure hanging over me.”
As per his contract with Hay, House has been dancing I’ll Crane For You daily since September. In early January, after we spoke, he flew to Austin, Texas, for coaching by Hay, an indication of her personal interest in the project and her respect for House.
He admits to being a bit nervous. “She won’t like some of the choices I’ve made,” House told me before getting on the plane. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll change them. Maturity confers advantages, and knowing when to stand your ground is one of them.
stage@nowtoronto.com
