{"id":108661,"date":"2024-10-18T10:46:45","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T14:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=108661"},"modified":"2024-10-18T10:46:45","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T14:46:45","slug":"scrutiny-lucy-ruperts-consummate-grace-creates-stunning-choreography-heartless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2024\/10\/18\/scrutiny-lucy-ruperts-consummate-grace-creates-stunning-choreography-heartless\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Lucy Rupert\u2019s Consummate Grace Creates Stunning Choreography In Heartless"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dance
Dance Artist Lucy Rupert (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Citadel+Compagnie & Blue Ceiling Dance \/ Heartless, choreographed and performed by Lucy Rupert, The Citadel: Ross Centre for Dance, closes Oct. 20. Tickets here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Lucy Rupert is one of Toronto\u2019s most talented senior dance artists. At 51, she still moves with the acute articulation and detailing that have marked her distinguished career. She is also one of the city\u2019s intellectuals of dance.<\/p>\n

Her newest work, Heartless, is a case in point.<\/p>\n

She began with the idea of portraying episodes in the life of a robot, which in turn led her to explore the concept of personhood and the moral status of robots. From here, the piece opened up into an inquiry of moral philosophy as a whole.<\/p>\n

In her program note, Rupert poses the question: Can a creature without a heart act morally?<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m not sure that I have ever thought about robots and moral behaviour in the same breath, but with artificial intelligence becoming a greater force in our lives, maybe we should be considering Rupert\u2019s viewpoint.<\/p>\n

The title Heartless is an interesting one. Robots, for example, can be turned into heartless killers. On the other hand, maybe they are like the Wizard of Oz\u2019s Tin Man, and want desperately to have a heart.<\/p>\n

Abstract contemporary dance being what it is, is, well, abstract. In the solo, Rupert presents a sweeping array of images in which the audience must extract meaning, and each of us will find our own way of interpreting the piece. I saw the robot image as a metaphor for something greater \u2014 the very struggle to find a consciousness, and in the end, failing.<\/p>\n

\"Dance
Dance Artist Lucy Rupert (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Heartless is built around eight sections, each with a unique music score of found works from contemporary classical composers such as Max Richter and Gyorgy Ligeti, but Rupert has also included Nina Simone, and the spoken words of the poet T.S. Eliot. This very eclectic selection helps create an alienating atmosphere. Nothing in the score is filled with emotion. It is medium cool and distancing, as befits the work.<\/p>\n

The dance itself is mesmerizing because Rupert is such a beautifully lyrical dancer. Heartless, for me, at least, begins with the body displaying cold, efficient mechanical impulses, but as the piece progresses, we see the solo figure grappling with a body spinning out of control, yet fighting hard to find the self-control to harness in the movement.<\/p>\n

At one point, Rupert is splayed out on the floor, unable to rise. She is a broken machine. At another, she tries to master control by the visual element of balancing on one foot, and at last, she finally succeeds. As for acting morally, we do see softer moments in the piece, but that is, perhaps, the bridge too far to portray in the abstract.<\/p>\n

As a dancer, all the great Rupertisms are there. Every movement is clearly executed with utter precision. There is nothing muddy or incomplete, be it limb thrusts, finger and hand gestures, or torso manipulations. Rupert is simply gorgeous to watch, regardless if one even finds actual meaning in the work.<\/p>\n

She does have a throughline. At the end of a section, she snaps her fingers, and hangs down her head in the blackout that follows. Another snap awakens her into action, and so the robot can display a new side of its persona. Thus, no matter how far the robot may stray from its basic machine nature, it cannot escape what it essentially is.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to the magnificent lighting design of Gabriel Cropley<\/strong>. The lights follow Rupert\u2019s movements like hand to glove, and each section is treated differently. The most powerful part of the design are back lights that fragment into criss-crossed shafts that interweave with each other to create confusion, mirroring the confusion that permeates the central figure.<\/p>\n

There is something exhilarating about watching a beautiful mover, and Rupert\u2019s consummate grace supersedes anything else happening in the piece. From that point of view, Heartless is stunning choreography.<\/p>\n

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With grace and depth of thought, Lucy Rupert’s Heartless demonstrates why she is one of Toronto\u2019s most talented senior dance artists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":108663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40967,20,52],"tags":[41516],"yst_prominent_words":[7292,10817,13839,10709,9913,13303,11647,9960],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/Copy-of-REVIEW-89.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-sgB","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108661"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108666,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108661\/revisions\/108666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108661"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=108661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}