ANATOMY OF A MOTOR

It’s with an eye looking in the rear-view mirror that Alexandre Morin composed this demanding and sensitive solo, summoning up his roots and family history in a docu-fictional approach.

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In the choreographer’s family, the career of auto bodywork mechanic is passed on from father to son. He grew up with his brother in an environment where metal is twisted and shaped, where men are built through the labor of their hands. In partnership with his brother Gabriel, who works on the body of a vehicle on-screen during the show, he embraces that heritage, transforming manual labor into a sculptural dance, supported by the words of author Mathieu Leroux and the music of Jonathan Goulet. Through the evocative force of materials being struck, hammered and reshaped emerges movement of undeniable tenderness. This embodiment is guided by an underlying queer emancipation of a lineage of generations of rural men in Québec, where there is little room for the expression of feelings or the assertion of difference. Alexandre Morin has chosen to draw analogies and parallels from the challenges of the artist and that of the artisan. Thus beings are shaped through learning, discerning and accepting differences. No longer looking back, he gazes now at the road ahead, to pursue his own path.