DANCE

PuSh FEST Quebec performer brings a circus to mystery mansion

by Carlito Pablo

Quebec interdisciplinary artist Claudel Doucet has extensive circus-performance training, and she brings that into a mixture of dance, performance art, and theatricality titled Se prendre.

Anyone who has ever been with someone knows that one doesn’t have to be alone to feel lonely. It gets lonesome sometimes despite other and break their loneliness through different strategies,” she said. Doucet is a 2004 graduate of the National Circus School in Montreal. She also has a dethe presence of another.

Claudel Doucet describes this as the “loneliness of being next to someone”. It’s as if a bond was broken.

Doucet is the cocreator and principal performer of Se prendre, which is a (now sold out) show running from January 29 to February 4 at the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.

The French title provides a hint of what ticket holders may expect during the 75 minutes of Se prende.

Reached at her home in Montreal, Doucet explained that the phrase means “something between ‘to hold’, ‘to get tangled’, or ‘to take’”.

“So for a title it refers to this idea of trying to reach out to the other or to another being, and the complexity of that,” Doucet told the Straight in a phone interview.

It seems complicated, in that Se prendre uses minimal dialogue while following two performers as they move from room to room in a “secret” Shaughnessy mansion venue.

As Doucet noted, even the spoken words used in the show might sound “disconnected” from the conventional use of speech for communication.

The interdisciplinary artist comes from the world of circus and acrobatics, and this background informs the distinct language of Se prendre. “The vocabulary that we use is mainly physical,” she said.

The work explores ideas of intimacy and relationships through movements that cross the lines of acrobatics, dance, and performance art. It also includes what Doucet called a “little bit of theatricality”.

“Basically, we see two beings that try to craft a way to be together and around each gree in performance creation with Concordia University. She has performed with Cirque du Soleil and Circus Monti of Switzerland. In 2019, Doucet founded her own company, called Lion Lion. Se prendre came out in the same year, had an initial presentation in Montreal, and officially premiered in Norway. The production cocreated by Doucet and colleague Cooper Lee Smith was touring Europe before the COVID-19 pandemic started. The show was last presented in Prague in February 2020. The staging of Se prendre at the PuSh Festival will mark its return, which is one reason why Doucet is thrilled about coming to Vancouver. Another is that she has never performed as an artist in this western Canadian city, making this her debut, of sorts. In addition, this will be the first time that a new version of Se prendre will be presented to the public. It was originally written with a male and a female performer. This time around, though, Doucet will be doing it with another woman, Christine Daigle. “So it is now a female duet, which brings a new breath to the creation,” Doucet said. She added that although the casting has changed, the roles remain the same, with the interpretation having “more of this feminine energy”. Ticket holders will be notified about the location of the Shaughnessy residence 24 hours before showtime. In delving into the theme of togetherness, Doucet recognizes that human beings are complicated creatures. This is where the challenge lies. “You might not even be able to know really what you are yourself,” she said. g

JAN

28/29

Chopin, Fauré

& Bologne*

Fri, Sat, 8pm | Orpheum THIS WEEKEND!

This (almost) all French concert features award-winning Canadian Chopin specialist Charles Richard-Hamelin in a ravishing program led by Maestro Tausk.

Charles Richard-Hamelin

Hear it. Feel it.

Thunderbird by Doug Lafortune, Coast Salish | Courtesy of Native Northwest

Andrew Crust

Paul Shaffer

FEB

3/4/6

Mendelssohn & Satie*

Fri, 7pm | Orpheum Thurs, Sun, 2pm | Orpheum

Let the VSO transport you to Europe with a program that showcases the colours of French Impressionists (Satie’s Gymnopedies), and the beauty of the British Isles and Italy through Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture and Italian Symphony No. 4.

FEB

11/12

Paul Shaffer Live!

Fri, Sat, 8pm | Orpheum

Paul Shaffer, former music director to David Letterman, shares symphonic renditions of his favourite pop, R&B, and jazz tunes plus anecdotes and reminiscences from a remarkable career.

FEB

13

Carnival of OUR Animals

Sun, 2pm | Orpheum

A special collaboration with the VSO Indigenous Council presents a new take on Saint-Saëns’s famed composition and adds new music inspired by animals of the Pacific Northwest.

*Note: Large symphonic pieces require more musicians on stage. To keep the musicians safe and provide increased physical distancing on stage, the VSO has changed the programming of its Jan 28–29, and Feb 3–6 concerts.

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Concerts presented at 50% capacity, in adherence with Provincial Health Orders