TRACE choreography by Jera Wolfe (Red Sky Performance/Canadian Stage). At the Berkeley Street Theatre (26 Berkeley). Runs to November 11. $49-$79. 416-368-3110, canadianstage.com. See listing. Rating: NNN
Hot on the heels of last seasons Backbone, Red Sky Performance returns to Canadian Stage with Trace, another hour-long dance work inspired by Indigenous cosmologies and belief systems.
The work opens with a striking image: dancer Julie Pham lifted high in the air, supported by an ensemble that rotates her in a kind of slow-moving horizontal pirouette. She might be a planet or a star rolling timelessly through the universe.
Throughout Trace, bodies collectively support a rogue spirit seeking to connect with whatevers out there. Though repeated without much evolution, this configuration of a tightly entwined gaggle of limbs absorbing and expelling its own is effective, as is the synchronous movement choreographer Jera Wolfe has devised for the six-dancer group. It often occurs in tandem with drum-like rhythms, the recorded vocals of throat-boxer Nelson Tagoona, and controlled panting by the dancers in these sections repetition has a seductive power.
For me, its a problem that, while fun to watch, the choreography doesnt often lead to real intellectual or emotional transcendence. A quieter section, in which Pham works with a length of white gauze and then finger-combs her long, black hair, using it to cover her eyes, promises an intimate revelation but doesnt quite get there.
Some of the ensuing disappointment is mitigated by production values. The dancers are uniformly accomplished and attractive. There is some fine work from the onstage musicians: percussionist Rick Sacks, bass and guitar player Bryant Didier and Maori vocalist Ora Barlow-Tukaki, whose ethereal voice lends urgency and light to composer Eliot Brittons score.
Large animated projections by Marcella Grimaux with motion designer Daniel Faubert dominate the set. Some of these atmospheric animations follow themes of the stars (here they are clustered around hunting imagery a bear, a moose rather than the usual figures from Greek mythology) and other environmental phenomena.
But the most memorable sequence features a typed missive from 1921, in which Indian Affairs justifies its ban on Indigenous dance and other oppressive policies. The letter slowly dissolves in a waterfall of drifting type.
I wish director Sandra Laronde and Red Sky would push harder with their agenda of melding Indigenous culture and experience with contemporary aesthetics, tapping the power of dance to offer something genuinely transformative. Still, audiences at Canadian Stage have been enthusiastic, responding to Trace and its athletic performers with cheers and warmth.
The standing ovations indicate something else thats important: mainstream theatregoers are hungry for narratives, images and impressions driven by Indigenous perspectives.
