If you let bodies speak, they say what they have to say. This time of movement dramaturgy on Savèches was an awakening of the bodies. Living bodies to transmit this rich poem.Monique Léger, movement dramaturg
For ten days, we had the privilege of forming a creative bubble to explore the dramaturgy of movement around the theatrical adaptation of a collection of poetry, Savèches à fragmentation, by Acadian poet Jonathan Roy. Yes, it’s a privilege to be able to confine ourselves in a space with fellow creators to explore a theatrical concept without any pressure to perform, only the freedom to try things out, while dreaming of the day when we will reconnect with the audience.
My concept for this theatrical transposition is to have the poet share the stage with an actor who will be like his alter ego, his persona, the extension of his inner self. The course of this project isn’t familiar to me, since the text is not a conventional theatre script. A poet’s words are addressed to the universe; they are reflections, questions launched into the world, whereas a theatre text is written with a specific audience in mind, with characters defined by lines and situations. The approach is therefore not the same, so I wanted to give a body to the performers before they started speaking by finding a language that engages movement first. I had to explore how to bring together a poet who is used to delivering his poetry behind a microphone, and an actor whose construction of a character is based on a known work process: analyzing the text, understanding the characters, memorizing the text, setting up and rehearsing the scenes. I was lucky enough to meet Monique Léger, who for 30 years has pursued an artistic practice based on Authentic Movement. Monique seemed to me the ideal person to work with us on a dramaturgy of movement. It was a wonderful and enriching meeting.
We considered the NAC’s support as a sign of encouragement to create freely and a mark of recognition of our creative work. What’s more, this creative residency was also accompanied by resources that allowed us to invite an artist of our choice for a mentorship.
—Allain Roy, director
Participating in these exploratory meetings about Savèches was a wonderful opportunity. I’m still processing everything we experienced there. Ideas about my projects are alive and well, thanks in large part to you, to us. How good it was to bring fresh grist to the mill!
I can see the importance of regular and intensive work in the development of a project like this. This remarkable teamwork has given me a solid creative template for “what’s next”, whatever that may be.
—Joanie Roy, artist/observer
