With contemporary dance continuing to break new ground here in Calgary, I was extremely lucky to attend the opening night of Body Remix / Goldberg Variations by Compagnie Marie Chouinard (Montreal) at The Grand last night. (Thanks very much Carol and Mark!)

It was truly awe-inspiring, tense and beautiful. The work was created at the Venice Biennale’s International Festival of Contemporary Dance, Italy, 2005. If you're not familiar with the work, the dancers use props such as crutches, rope, prostheses, horizontal bars, and harnesses throughout the performance that either disable the dancers or enable them in bizarre hybrid-human variations. The design of the entire piece is incredible. Marie Chouinard was responsible for the choreography, sets and props. Each angle, shape, and fleeting moment is flawlessly complex and beautiful.

A remixed interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations accompanies the performance. The remixing of this historic piece of music is so perfectly matched by the physical remixing of classical dance forms and, literally, body parts.

The show runs at The Grand until April 29th and I would highly recommend seeing this one of a kind work while it's in Calgary!