Throughout her 30-year career, first as a dancer and then as a choreographer for her own company, Marie Chouinard has defied being pigeonholed, characterised or otherwise defined.
When reminded that she has been referred to as 'the queen of the avant-garde', Chouinard demurred. 'I would not describe myself in those terms,' gently protested the Quebec, Canada-born dance doyenne, preferring to be simply called 'an artist and a choreographer'.
When her 10-member Compagnie Marie Chouinard takes to the stage at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Lyric Theatre on March 14 and 15, audiences will be treated to a contemporary dance experience the likes of which they have never encountered.
The dancers express themselves through the physicality of movement and through singing and 'sounding', meaning they utter squeaks, squeals and yelps. 'It's part of the whole composition,' she explained.
'Whether it's sound or movement, all manifestations of the body are coming from the same source. The movement of the head, hand, tongue, breath and sound are all impulses from the core of the body.'
Her company's Asian premiere of Ode to Joy L.I.V.E. explores the 2,500-year-old Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
