During the Games there is also a cultural olympiad. There are some amazing events and since I am not a sports fan, it will be (along with the experience of trying to work downtown during these weeks, the sights, and resulting pictures) my olympic experience.

The first event I went to was a contemporary dance held at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. The evening was a presentation of three pieces performed by The National Ballet of Canada and The Royal Winnipeg Ballet. The pieces were 24 Preludes by Chopin (Chouinard), As Above, So Below (Godden) and Hikarizatto (Galili).

This clip is from Chouinard’s company, and although not from 24 Preludes, it does give you a feel for her intensity and the kinds of movements and themes she presents. This bit, the first of the three, was definitely my favourite, in part because of the feel of it (see video), but also because it seems to me to a bit like a lyrical poem, presenting a world that really doesn’t have a narrative stream. I’ve never felt the world had a teleology so I’ve always felt more comfortable with world-pictures like this. I’m not sure I agree with the content of her sense of the world but I do very much feel at home with the style in which she presents what she understands. And she has women doing lifts. When I went to the ballet as a child, the fact that the boys got to do all the heavy duty stuff always annoyed the crap out of me.

As Above, So Below was much more what I expect from contemporary dance.  It was most definitely a story, one about the relationship between a man and a woman. I couldn’t find a video but this picture will give you a sense of the story.

The last piece was my second favourite. Hikarizatto – the name alone was worth the cost of the tickets. Choreographed by Itzik Galili, the sense of the world that came from the dance was most definitely different – wonderful, but odd. In the last half of this very short video ( starting at about 1:15) you can see a clip for Galili’s piece. I have to say that I felt every anthropological bone in my body for the entirety of the performance. Kind of distracted from the sheer enjoyment unfortunately.