WORKS
UP UNTIL NOW (2009)
Iconic choreographer Deborah Hay is one of the leading figures of experimental dance in the world today. A member of the legendary Judson Dance Theatre in the 1960s, her uncompromising dances sharpen the senses and ambush the intellect with fascinating questions about time, space and the body. They delight, provoke and, ultimately, transform us.
Up Until Now, made for Toronto Dance Theatre in 2009, is an extraordinary creation that challenges our assumptions about the very nature of performance. The choreography, the dancing, and the Winchester Street Theatre itself are conceived as inseparable parts of a fascinating whole in which the ‘fourth wall’ disappears and the performers invite being seen in the act of becoming.
“There are aspects of dance performance that I had always accepted as a given. Working with Deborah Hay has deepened my understanding of what we do as dancers. She has helped bring a greater vitality to the stage.”
Mikhail Baryshnikov
TDT’s dancers are wonderful in this work —they inhabit Up Until Now with fierce commitment. Dynamic, intense, serene, and often very funny, they keep on us on the edge of our seats with the power of their collective presence.
The production elements meld seamlessly in Up Until Now. Voice, text and the sounds of moving bodies come together to create a delicate soundscape, while Cheryl Lalonde’s costumes suggest playful, faded glamour. Gabriel Cropley’s lighting brings the Winchester Street Theatre to life, revealing details of surprising, unexpected beauty.
The opening of a fan, the telling of a cosmic story, the blurring of blurry space and the pleasures of an inconspicuously dazzling dance are just a few of the mysteries of this masterly creation.
Up Until Now is a touching work that changes the way that we look at dance. Deborah Hay opens up a space for us to contemplate nothing less than who we are in the present moment.
