Founded in 1984, the Canadian company O’Vertigo, which comes to Rovereto exclusively and as an “absolute first for Italy”, is made up of ten dancers. Each of them also practices other performing languages independently. The choreographer of the group is Ginette Laurin, winner in 1986 of the most prestigious Canadian award for choreography. Before founding O’Vertigo Danse, which quickly became one of the most important groups of that lively creative dimension that is the new Canadian dance (concentrated in Quebec, the French-speaking area, and made famous in Europe above all by the group “La La La” by Edouard Lock). Ginette Laurin was one of the most sought-after dancers by the best choreographers in Canada. A gymnast by training, she studied classical and modern dance for a long time, specializing in New York with the companies of José Limon, Meredith Monk and Louis Falco. She has developed a highly spectacular style of movement, precise and violent in acrobatic techniques, highly concentrated and controlled, aimed at exploring the thousand possibilities of dynamism of the body. Her strong and expressive theatre plays in balance between drama and comedy with an ironic colour that constantly dominates. Her most significant works are “Ole”, a spectacular and humorous duo from 1984 that revealed the original talent of the choreography, and also “Etude, Timber, Chevy Dream and Full House”, all works created in the years immediately following the foundation of the company. More recent titles are “Chagall and Don Chisciotte” which will be presented in Rovereto. Chagall is a short work (it lasts less than an hour) that features 4 couples intertwined in a succession of pas de deux. Taking inspiration from “Les Maries de la Tour Eiffel” by Cocteau, the author here uses and elaborates the techniques of contac-dance. “Don Quichotte”, particularly appreciated by international critics, built on the music of the Canadian group Janitors Animated, is an ambiguous and cruel work, where the “excessive” nature of the character evoked serves the more “baroque” vein of Laurin, and where the very refined gestures filters quotations taken from flamenco.
