‘IDEAS INTO MOVEMENT’
Spotlight is a weekly look at some of the people who are part of the Ottawa area’s arts community. This week, the Citizen’s Bruce Deachman talks with choreographer and Tara Luz Danse artistic director and founder, Anik Bouvrette.
“When I create now, the pieces are about imagination and creativity, and the audience has to make associations with what they see — their own personal associations. So when you come and see a show, you’re not going to be a passive audience member. Dance has no words, so it’s not black and white — it’s very grey — because you can interpret it in so many ways.
“I think that’s why many people are uncomfortable with contemporary dance, because they think there’s only one answer. I think adults are generally scared of contemporary art because they don’t like to be wrong, and they don’t know what it’s about. But that’s OK.
“Sometimes we have to put more thought into it, and sometimes we don’t have to think at all. You just have to feel it, and you have to let yourself feel it. With contemporary art, you’re not always going to get it in the first five seconds, like so many other things in our lives. You have to invest yourself. You have to sit down and relax. You have to be an active audience member.
“I grew up in Orléans, and when I was around 13, I wanted to take a dance class. And all I knew then was what was being taught at competitive dance schools — contemporary dance was not being taught at competitive dance schools. So I started off in ballet jazz, but the timing was perfect, because the year after, De La Salle high school was opening its arts program, like Canterbury was doing. So I auditioned for both the dance and theatre programs, and decided to continue in dance. And what was being offered at the time at De La Salle was contemporary dance, and so I did that from Grade 9 to 13.
“I would take the bus all the way from Orléans every day — it was OC Transpo on St. Joseph Boulevard; it took so long.
“It was wonderful as a teenager to be immersed in an art form in such a deep and serious way, and dancing every day and creating pieces. For me, high school was amazing. I would dance for a couple of hours every day, but the cohort I was in, we were so passionate about it, we’d stay after school and rehearse, we went to dance performances and the National Arts Centre — my life as a teenager was all about dance.
“I didn’t really know about contemporary dance before then, but I think if I had, I would have been drawn to it, because it’s so expressive and open, and inclusive to all body types — I couldn’t have pursued a career in classical ballet; I just don’t have the body for it.
“But I knew, going through De La Salle, that I was more of a choreographer than a dancer, and that got me very inspired and stimulated.
“I was 14 and 15 years old and seeing shows from companies in Europe that were being presented at the NAC, shows that were very much out of the box. And we would have guest artists come to De La Salle.
“And all of this spoke to me. I often found myself looking at how the choreographer was thinking about his work and putting us in his space — I was really interested in the choices the choreographer was making. So we’d be in rehearsal, and I’d be a dancer in the piece, but I would find myself being more interested in the choreographic process than actually dancing on stage.
“I’d also created a few pieces when I was at De La Salle, and the response that I got from my teachers and audience members, I got a lot of feedback that this was a strength for me. So I’ve been doing that for 30 years now.
“When I started training and learning the movement in contemporary dance, it’s like I had a TV screen in my brain. I would close my eyes, and I’d see movement and sequences that, in the studio, I would just let come out.
“It would be like I’m sitting in the theatre and looking at the stage. And it’s not that it was clear, but it was clear enough that I could go back in the studio and just work on movement or on an image of, you know, a dancer coming out with a large piece of material flowing around. I would keep seeing quite a few things.
“I can’t control it. I think the creative process is something very magical, and I keep thinking that — and I know this will sound a bit bizarre — not that I was chosen for this, but that I was born with this. I was born with this aptitude to be able to transpose ideas into movement. I really believe that, and I believe that everyone has a talent for something, and some of us are really lucky to find it, and others not.
“I’ve had a lot of adults come to me, saying ‘I didn’t understand what your piece was about, but I saw this, this, this and this.’ And I’ll say to them, ‘Well, your this, this, this and this is in fact a great interpretation of my work.’ Because there are lots of interpretations.
“And sometimes you just need it to wash over you; it’s in the moment, and then it’s gone.”