The Modesty of Icebergs (La pudeur des icebergs)
Daniel Léveillé Danse (Canada) | choreographer: Daniel Léveillé
One of Canadian foremost choreographers, Daniel Leveille is a dedicated investigator of choreographic possibilities regarding the naked body. His work was first presented in Zagreb at the 22nd Dance Week Festival when awarded with the Audience Award. This time round his work is presented with his most acclaimed work The Modesty of Icebergs
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choreography: Daniel Léveillé
dramaturgical advisor / rehearsal director: Marie-Andrée Gougeon
dancers: Frédéric Boivin, Mahtieu Campeau, Justin Gionet, Stéphane Gladyszewski, Ivana Milicevic, Emmanuel Proulx
lighting designer: Marc Parent
music: Préludes op.28 by Frédéric Chopin
sound treatment: David Kilburn & Laurent Maslé
coproducers: Daniel Léveillé danse, CanDance Network Creation Fund and his partners Agora de la Danse, Brian Webb Dance Company, Canada Dance Festival, National Arts Centre, Vancouver East Cultural Centre, with the sponsor acknowledgement of Canada Council Dance Section, and Danspace Project (New York)
About the performance
In memory of my mother
The modesty of icebergs, the crystallization of a thought process on the fragile presence of the Self as it faces the Other. On stage, we are presented with bodies in a state of upheaval. Naked as the space around them, they suffer the essential vulnerability of the human condition, one that sees the individual sometimes rises unexpectedly above the tyranny of appearances. Trios alternate with duos, and the absence of amorous competition neutralizes all forms of exclusion. For this is not about conquest but the exploration of all possibilities and of the extraordinary effort required to simply live. With this clean new work, Daniel Léveillé delves even deeper into familiar terrain: the body’s demanding confrontation with the body of the Other, the mysterious relationships that govern bodies in space, the tracing of movement and its inexorable ebb and flow.
About the choreographer
In 1977, Daniel Léveillé abandoned his architecture studies to begin dance training with Lawrence Gradus at the Entre-Six Dance Company, and with Martine Époque at Groupe Nouvelle Aire . He danced briefly for the GNA (1979-1980), but his interest was in creation and he choreographed his first pieces for the Choréchanges: Le Bas Rouge De Beatrice, with Louise Lecavalier and OCRE (1978).
In 1982, the Canada Council for the Arts honoured him with the Jacqueline-Lemieux award in recognition of the quality of his artistic approach. In 1991, after many years working as an independent choreographer, he founded his own company, Daniel Léveillé Danse. Since 1988, he has also held the position of professor in the Dance department of the Université du Québec à Montréal.
Since 2001, the naked body has become the choreographer’s material of choice, perhaps even the major theme of his work.
Among his many creations, Le Sacre du printemps (1982), Les Traces no I, II, III, IV, V, VI (1989), L’Exil ou la Mort (1991), Jules et Juliette (1994), Utopie (1998), Amour, acide et noix (2001), La pudeur des icebergs (2004) and Twilight of the Oceans (2007) are landmark works in his choreographic career.
