DANCE ME TO THE END ON/OFF LOVE to Play Centaur Theatre, 19-22 Nov

GRANHØJ DANS [www.granhoj.dk] returns to Montreal for a limited engagement of Dance Me to the End ON/OFF Love, a poignant, haunting celebration of the words and music of Leonard Cohen. The Danish company revisits Centaur Theatre for 5 shows only between November 19 and 22 inclusive. Created by the company's Founder and Artistic Director, Palle Granhøj, in close collaboration with the performers and Visual Designer, Per Victor, the award-winning (Danish Arts council prize) production explores the architecture of the body and abandons itself to the sensual and sorrowful music of Dance Me to the End of Love and other songs by the legendary wordsmith.

Dance Me to the End ON/OFF Love, is a non-linear work enlisting the acoustics and bodies of 11 performers/musicians, including Granhøj himself. It was originally created to celebrate the contemporary dance-theatre company's twentieth anniversary and explores the many facets and manifestations of longing, a recurring theme in Cohen's work for which Granhøj has a great affinity. He explained: "I believe longing is essentially an eternal love for dance, as movement can never be fixed- never be fulfilled- but must constantly be re-visited." Neither pure theatre nor dance, the genre-defying "dance-concert", as Granhøj calls it, presents a series of striking images inspired by Granhøj Dans' work over the past two decades.

Granhøj Dans made its North American debut with Dance Me to the End ON/OFF Love as part of Centaur Theatre's 2012-13 season. Roy Surette, Centaur's Artistic and Executive Director was enthusiastic about the daring selection saying, "When I saw the show in Amsterdam, I was spellbound by the passion, melancholy and evocative musicality that define this breathtakingly imaginative production. I couldn't resist [ ... ] the way that text, dance, theatre, and both humorous and sensual imagery blended so beautifully". Granhøj reminisced, "After performing this piece in many cities around the world, it was a dream come true for us to perform it in Mr. Cohen's native city; it felt like we were finally home." The month-long run, both a critical and box office success, made an indelible impression on every member of the company. Granhøj continued, "We're all very excited to come back and perform at Centaur again. We hope to see familiar faces from our last visit as well as lots of new ones, hopefully one of them, Mr. Cohen's", who was on tour when Granhøj Dans was here the first time.

A professional dancer since 1986, Granhøj worked with numerous internationally acclaimed choreographers before founding Granhøj Dans in 1990. He has been lauded by international critics for his unique technique that restricts movement in order to create new forms of expression. The starting point for all his work is the Obstruction Technique, which he developed over the last 25 years. "My method places restrictions on the actions of the performers, reshaping their movements to unlock deeper aspects of their personalities, revealing the pain and joy of our shared humanity. The difference with this piece is that the words themselves obstruct the body and thereby become flesh".

 

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