Frédérick Gravel (Canada) – FEAR AND GREED

Duration: 75 min. 

“I have three problems : capitalism, the patriarchy, and why art can’t manage to save us” – Frédérick Gravel. 

Frédérick Gravel returns on stage, in a solo for the first time. In a solo… but with a band. With his singular dance, his guitar and supported by three musicians, he unveils his vision of the world, his desire to destroy all certainties and to make his plea for complete and total honesty.

The stage is charged, electricity flows through the room and, once more, Gravel makes everything explode. An artist in quest for transcendence, a ritual that would make sense for him, he attempts to confront the world and reconnect with it.

“In this show, I communicate less with the audience and more with myself. I liked to try and be sincere. I liked to deconstruct and reconstruct my own idea of myself. I'm not here to be sure of myself. I'm here to feel completely unsure. These questions are in my body, my flesh, my muscles. How do I dance in the moments when I feel this uncertainty? Sometimes I try something new and if my punchline doesn't land, then I simply think: Okay, that didn't work. If you allow such reactions directly, the work becomes more intimate. Maybe it doesn't turn out as well as you'd like, but that's part of the process“ – Frédérick Gravel.

Frédérick Gravel graduated in 2009 from UQAM’s (Université du Québec à Montréal) dance faculty with a thesis on “The role of the dance artist in a democratic society’’. The choreographer, dancer, musician and lighting designer Frédérick Gravel has been active on the Montreal scene for the past fifteen years.  He turns the structures of choreography upside down, merging into his work various elements from rock and performance art. He joined DLD as an associate creator in 2010 and was appointed artistic director of the company in 2018.

Produced by: DLD-Daniel Léveillé Danse

Directed, conceived and performed by: Frédérick Gravel

Dramaturgy and Texts: Étienne Lepage

Artistic Assistant and Rehearsal Director: Jamie Wright

Music Director: Philippe Brault

Music created by: Nicolas Basque + Philippe Brault + Frédérick Gravel + José Major

Lighting Design: Alexandre Pilon-Guay

Musicians: Nicolas Basque + Philippe Brault (2 & 4 juin) + Jean-Luc Huet (1 juin) + José Major

Soundman: Louis Carpentier

Stylist: Dave St-Pierre

Outside Eye: Katya Montaignac

Technical Coordinator and Production Manager: Vanessa Beaupré

Co-produced by: Festival TransAmériques + Regina A. Quick Centre for the Arts (Fairfield) + Muffatwerk (Munich) + Atelier de Paris / CDCN (Paris) + Montévidéo (Marseille) + Centre culturel de Notre-Dame-De-Grâce + Theater im Pumpenhaus (Münster) + Ceprodac / Centro de Producción de Danza Contemporánea (Mexico City)
Frédérick Gravel is a member of Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique

Premiered at Festival TransAmériques, Montreal, on June 1, 2019.

Photos: Jeniffer Prat, Nans Bortuzzo, David Wong, Yako (Jean-Christophe Yacono)