Le Duo

This pannel discussion on the theme of the Duo in dance will be hosted by Manon Levac, dancer, theorist and professor in the Dance Department at UQAM.

The staging of two individuals is likely to evoke the couple, and thus desire, hatred, the game of attraction and repulsion. Whether combat or dialogue, at the heart of the duo is always a story of a relationship, one that can take on multiple forms. The duo can be thought of or imagined as something between the dancing body or a musical instrument or prop, as intangible as lighting or as surprising as the audience. The duo is a means of entering into the intimacy of the two dancers. Through proximity or distancing, they inhabit and share the territory, with the spectator as voyeur. That encounter allows for a peek at the duo viewed from within, a glance at the challenges inherent to that particular configuration. Under the aegis of Manon Levac, the guest speakers – chosen for both their wit and their mastery of the subject – will generate wide-ranging discussion on this matter.