January 04, 2006 -

OTTAWA -- Acclaimed Venezuelan-born choreographer-dancer José Navas of Montreal’s Compagnie Flak returns to the NAC withPortable Dances: Solo with Light, Pas de Deux for Four Dancers, Trio in White in the Studio of the National Arts Centre on Thursday January 12, Friday January 13, and Saturday January 14, 2006 at 20:00.After several works in which Navas explored flamboyant theatricality in dance, Portable Dances is a return to pure dance.

Working with the beauty and simplicity of movement, all-white space, light, and sound, the solo, duet, and trio of Portable Dances cruise a continuum of sensations. Solo with Light (performed by Navas) is simplicity itself -- the only object on stage is a source of light. Pas de Deux for Four Dancers pairs Navas with another dancer as they begin with a simple phrase and develop multiple versions of it, inverting it, altering it, elaborating it – creating complex and beautiful arrangements of arms and legs. In the final section, Trio in White, three female dancers use an intricate structure that alternates between meditation and high-speed dancing to deconstruct the calligraphy of movement.

Portable Dances fuses exploration of the body in movement with exploration of the voice. Montreal composer Alexander MacSween uses the voices of the dancers as his only instruments. In response to the recurring motifs of José Navas’s movement vocabulary, MacSween elongates the sound of vowels and consonants to generate innovative and repetitive soundscapes.

“My fascination with movement remains strong and constant. I want to venture into the complex design of movement, the abstraction of movement and the fascination of movement in and across space. In Portable Dances I am challenging myself to combine high emotion with the strict formalism of the chosen structures, as in the finest poetry. The ideas behind Portable Dances are intimately linked to the work of visual artist Robert Rauschenberg, his collages and theories on space. I will investigate the many possibilities of design in space and design of movement.”
José Navas

“The magic happens. (…) José Navas is both an exceptional performer and an exceptional choreographer.”
Isabelle Poulin, Désautels/Radio-Canada, Montreal, 2005

“Navas created what might very well be his masterpiece.”
Victor Swoboda, The Gazette, Montreal, 2005

“Navas at the height of his art. If you like dance even a little, you must hurry to l’Agora de la danse (…) A dance that seduces by its pure lines and its precise and obsessive rhythm. (…) In Pas de deux for Four Dancers, Navas surrounds himself with three splendid dancers. All four of them evolve with a crazy ease. (…) In Solo with Light, Navas, faithful to himself, reveals himself intense and fascinating. (…) InTrio in White, dancers  form the workings of a well-oiled and rhythmic mechanism in motion.”
Stéphanie Brody, La Presse, Montreal, 2005

“Something new and fascinating is emerging here in the choreographer’s work.”
Frédérique Doyon, Le Devoir, Montreal, 2005

“Poetry without artifice. The gesture is king and master. (…) Dancers have, in the space, the strength of a diamond on a sheet of glass. They cut the space with an apparent ease that reveals their high level of technique and undeniable mastery of the body.”
Normand Marcy, Voir, Montreal, 2005

“José Navas masterfully inhabits the space, cutting in between shadow and light. (…) The three independent pieces form a full entity, complete. The pieces make visible the high quality of the dancers. The dancers offer a polished work and an impeccable performance.”
Alexandra Liva, Dfdanse,, 2005

“Navas’s choreography is fierce and complex… he clearly has the intelligence and imagination to create work of high technical caliber and contextual depth.”
Diane Vivona, The Dance Insider

Portable Dances : Solo with Light,
Pas de Deux for Four Dancers, Trio in White
CHOREOGRAPHY  José Navas
MUSIC Alexander MacSween
LIGHTING Marc Parent
COSTUMES José Navas

There will be an exhibition of photos of José Navas by photographer Valerie Simmons entitled “Trois Battements – Portraits of/de José Navas” in the NAC Studio foyer from January 9 to 14, 2006

Compagnie Flak performs Portable Dances in the Studio of the National Arts Centre on Thursday January 12, Friday January 13, and Saturday January 14, 2006 at 20:00. Tickets are $23, and $12.50 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card). Tickets are available at the NAC Box Office (in person) and through Ticketmaster (with surcharges) at (613) 755-1111; Ticketmaster may also be accessed through the NAC’s web-site at www.nac-cna.ca. Last-minute tickets (subject to availability) for full-time students are $10 at the Live Rush Centre in the NAC Foyer after 18:00 on the day of performance only, upon presentation of a valid ‘Live Rush’ card. NEW for 2005-06! Groups of 10+ save 15% to 20% off regular ticket prices to all NAC Music, Theatre and Dance performances; to reserve your seats, call 947-7000 ext. 384 or e-mail grp@nac-cna.ca

Photos for all dance events can be viewed and downloaded at: www.nac-cna.ca/media/

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Information:
Gerald Morris
Marketing and Media Relations,
NAC Dance Department
(613) 947-7000, ext. 249
gmorris@nac-cna.ca

JOSÉ NAVAS
Venezuelan-born José Navas exhudes natural charisma. Trained as a dancer, he now pursues a rich choreographic career. With a repertoire that includes more than twenty pieces, José Navas has quickly become a regular at some of the world's most prestigious venues for contemporary dance: Vienna's Im Puls Festival, the Joyce Theater in New York, London's Dance Umbrella, the Venice Biennale and Aoyama Theatre in Tokyo. His work has been internationally acclaimed for the universes he creates: formalistic, fantastic, the audience's only compass is their own emotion. After studying dance in Caracas and at the Merce Cunningham Studio in New York, José Navas moved to Montréal and started choreographing his own work. In 1995, he founded Compagnie Flak and began an international career. Among his numerous creations, Sterile Fields (1996), One Night Only 3/3 (1998), Solo with Cello (2001), Perfume de Gardenias (2000) and Adela, mi amor (2004) are the landmark works of his choreographic journey.

ALEXANDER MacSWEEN
Born in Montreal in 1964, musician and composer Alexander MacSween has been associated with numerous bands, dance companies, and theatre projects. He has composed for and performed with Sarah Bild, Jennifer Lacey, Robert Lepage, Kidd Pivot (Crystal Pite and Richard Siegal), Pamela Newel, Montréal Danse, and Projet Porte Parole. He is currently touring with Marie Brassard in her new piece, Peep Show. As a drummer, Alexander is very active in the world of improvised music, having played with guitarists Sam Shalabi and Paolo Angeli, and saxophonists Tim Berne and Frank Gratkowski. Alexander has also drummed with rock bands The Nils, Pest 500, and Bionic. Alexander MacSween has been a frequent contributor to Studio 303’s Noise From The Dark, an annual event of music performed in pitch darkness. Transformation of the voice with samplers and other electronic devices has been a recurrent method in the composer’s work.

COMPAGNIE FLAK
The history of Compagnie Flak is inextricably linked with that of its founder and artistic director, José Navas. After studying dance in Caracas, he trained at the Merce Cunningham studio in New York, working with Lucinda Childs, Stephen Petronio, and William Douglas. He came to Montreal in 1991 with Douglas and began creating his own choreographies. He founded Compagnie Flak in 1995, the same year he received the Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award) for his performance in William Douglas’s solo While Waiting.

In its ten years of existence, Compagnie Flak has performed 200 times in more than 50 cities in 17 countries: Germany, England, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Scotland, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovenia, the United States and Venezuela.

For its projects, Compagnie Flak has received financial support from the following coproducers: The Joyce Theater (New York), Danspace Project (New York), The National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Festival Danse Canada (Ottawa), Korzo Theater (The Hague), Holland Dance Festival (The Hague), International Tanzwochen Wien (Vienna), Culturgest (Lisbon), Kaïitheater (Brussels), Springdance Festival (Utrecht), Agora de la danse (Montreal), Centre Culturel de Bechem (Anvers), Merseyside Dance Initiative (Liverpool), Tanzprach (Vienna), Danse-Cité (Montreal), The Banff Center for the Arts (Banff), Trafo (Budapest), Dance in Kotrijk (Courtrai), Cultuur Centrum Brugge (Belgium), Danceworks UK Ltd. (Sheffield), Göteborg Dance & Theatre Festival (Sweden).