THIS TIME choreography by Heidi Strauss, based on Ken Gass’s play LIGHT (adelheid). At Factory Studio (125 Bathurst). To Apr 11. $18-$25. 416-504-9971. See Continuing. Rating: NNN
When you enter the Factory Studio and find the stage relocated from the far end to the centre, the impact registers immediately.
The transformed space resembles the U shape of a skateboarding arena, with raked seating up the sides and a bare stage at the lowest level in the middle. Then dancers Brendan Wyatt and Justine A. Chambers enter serenely, giving little indication of the challenging performance ahead.
Loosely based on LIGHT, a wordless one-act play by Ken Gass, choreographer Heidi Strauss’s this time succeeds in translating the tension between a man and a woman in an unstable relationship into contemporary dance.
There are very few still moments in the piece. The couple struggle with their passion for each other, and Strauss shows this while engaging the senses via the sounds of bodies heaving across the stage, the percussion of hands and feet slapping the hardwood floor and their panting breaths. The energetic dancers grapple and maintain fierce eye contact, and from the front row you can smell and feel their heat as they move.
Shadows cast across the stage and onto the walls enhance the effect of all this movement, but lighting designer Rebecca Picherack also has the difficult job of integrating beams of light from Gass’s original work. These appear erratically, sometimes as lone beams and sometimes as groups, but aren’t always successfully incorporated.
Jeremy Mimnagh and John Mark Sherlock’s rhythmic soundtrack contrasts vividly with Strauss’s fluid choreography. Less effective are Mimnagh’s hazy, repetitive black-and-white video projections that feel more like an interesting technical device.
This time explores a liaison between youthful lovers, and like most young relationships, it feels like it’s still evolving. Hopefully, these artists will continue to nurture it to maturity.
stage@nowtoronto.com