Culture pour tous

Le fil de l'histoire

Paths of Encounter

The choreographer Harold Rhéaume and his company Le fils d’Adrien have recently been invited to celebrate Quebec City’s 400th anniversary in a very singular and personal way. To pay homage to his city of birth and the place where he has now chosen to practice his art, he has created the Le Fil de l’Histoire (History’s Thread), a contemporary dance procession that weaves its way through different historical districts of the city.

Fourteen dancers dressed in scarlet red hold an immense red cable at arm’s length which they then put down in the centre of the Vieux-Séminaire courtyard. From the very first minute one can sense the audience’s enthrallment before these solemn and vigorous gestures. After the performance the celebrated fil de l’Histoire is offered to audience members and the cortege continues down the De Buade street where the performers dance on the low wall which flanks Notre-Dame Basilica, continuing on the stairs before the magnificent post office building to then occupy the sidewalks of the Côte de la Montagne.

At the helm of the metallic thread, the choreographer deploys all his strength to carry the momentum of the crowd that impresses him as much as it stirs his heart. It is striking, and the city seems to have come to a stop under the footsteps of the walkers and dancers of the fil de l’Histoire. Some passersby look on in astonishment while others join the group. As the spectators continue to keep a firm grip on the cable they talk amongst each other and with the dancers, who are all smiles. The choreographic journey comes to an end in the interior court of the Musée de la civilisation where the crowd gathers one last time to participate in this adventure, which takes place both in an historical and contemporary setting.

Harold Rhéaume says that he is agreeably surprised by the audience’s response, who, for each performance hurried to latch onto the cable in a very natural manner, as though this thread would facilitate the encounter with the other—a new encounter with dance.

In the performance program, the symbolism of the red thread is described as the red blood which flows in the veins, like the movement which the dancers create through the procession, like the life which enlivens Quebec City. A braided cord, as we are reminded once again, tightly knit like the community of humans who built this beautiful city with a global outlook that we know today. Le fils d’Adrien spares no detail when it come to the public’s understanding of its work. The program underscores this in a beautiful manner:

“This performance,” it states, “is inspired by the Fête-Dieu procession that was so familiar to our ancestors, a distant childhood memory and also an ode to great Quebec-City artists, such as Jean-Paul Lemieux and Gilles Carle, who depicted enthusiastic crowds gathered in the streets of Vieux-Québec.” His procession is not religious but it is filled with humanity and is quite representative of the dynamism that is currently shaking up the Quebec-City contemporary dance world.

This project was born of the desire to provoke an encounter with the spectator‑citizen, to bring contemporary dance outdoors and outside of the “black box” of creation studios in order to enable everyday people to appreciate this often misunderstood discipline. The choreographer has a long-standing interest in using urban space and street furniture as sources for his creations. The city and its terrain present a stimulating challenge to be met; these grounds are at times difficult to dance on, not to speak of the urban stimuli (traffic, crowds, colours, alternating lights...) that one has to compete with. Nevertheless, the team stuck to its initial leitmotiv: seek inspiration from the stone, cement, stairs and sidewalks which have borne witness to centuries of history...

After two years of intense work, Le fils d’Adrien is happy to have created a gathering that was festive, and more importantly, meaningful. Beyond its use of art to discover or rediscover the city, the performance fostered a true encounter between artists and citizens. Each said how much they appreciated this contact with the other. Though sometimes brief, these encounters sparked a desire to get to know one another better.

Several thousand spectators walked along the paths of the fil de l’Histoire. The considerable attendance and the enthusiastic commentaries of participants of all ages (a point worth stressing) have led Harold Rhéaume to state that once again contemporary dance has proven to be accessible and capable of rallying one and all in the frantic rhythm of our lives.

http://www.lefilsdadrien.ca/