97 Positions of the Heart probes the inner workings of compelling Canadian writer, Elizabeth Smart (By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept (1945)). WCD’s artistic director and choreographer Brent Lott celebrates Elizabeth Smart’s intensely lived quest for self-actualization. The story unfolds against the backdrop of Smart’s childhood, a tumultuous romantic pairing with English writer, George Barker, and the experience of motherhood. Smart aimed to discover a new literary language that stepped beyond the established tenets of storytelling. Staying true to this pioneering spirit, Lott joins forces with poet Jaik Josephson to traverse a new creative territory. The result is a piece dripping with metaphoric image, that loyal to Smart’s vision, dares to speak a truth about life in the social margins. Josephson explores Elizabeth’s rapturous existence by constructing a vocabulary based on the interplay of poetry and Lott’s movement. The dancers use spoken word as a vehicle to reveal Elizabeth’s story. The narrative is a conversation that is sometimes directed toward George, sometimes toward Elizabeth’s mother, and at other times, seemingly, toward the audience. The effect of this shifting voice is both mysterious and provocative. For more information, visit www.97poth.ca
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