Infractions

It’s not something you would see performed by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Infractions pits dancer against dancer in an intimate struggle to break free of constraints.

Their movement is graceful but harsh, the dancers are beautiful but savage. Infractions, choreographed by Gabrielle Martin, expresses themes of manipulation and external control.

“There’s something I love about doing partner work,” Martin says backstage after a rehearsal, “If you are able to get the physics and the timing and the mechanics of it right you can really fly.”

The piece demonstrates a range of styles and techniques. An aerial dance is featured in a solo piece performed by Martin. It utilizes a hanging apparatus designed by Martin. Another piece is performed by three dancers obscured from the audience by polyurethane sheeting.

Infractions incorporates Martin’s background in ice hockey and judo. The dancers move violently against each other as well as the confines of the stage. It is often unclear whether the dancers are in combat or in love. According to Martin, this ambiguity is intentional: the dancers are not individualized in costume with the intent of making them archetypes of struggle, not specifically human beings in a relationship.

Originally the first piece, The Box, was choreographed by Martin in 2009, featuring Martin and Rebecca Hall. It was remounted a year later with Melina Stinson and Andrea Legg performing.

“The Box is about involuntary confinement. [The dancers] are at times resisting against each other, and at times assisting each other. It is a colder piece emotionally,” Martin said.

Infractions continues from where Box left off, following the beginning theme of confinement to a theme of breaking out in the last piece, titled Pelt.

It is performed in six pieces by four dancers; Melina Stinson, Andrea Legg, Geneviève Bolla and Gabriel Martin with music is composed by David Drury.

Martin is a graduate of Concordia’s Contemporary Dance School where she earned her BFA in 2009. Infractions is produced by Pulse and Puppet, an independent dance company founded by Martin.

Melina Stinson graduated from l’ADMMI, l’École de Danse Contemporaine, and has worked on multiple productions around Montreal as a professional dancer.

Andrea Legg is classically trained contemporary dancer as well as aerialist and choreographer. She is a graduate of the Edmonton School of Ballet.

Genviève Bolla was professionally trained at the Superior School of Contemporary Ballet. At 17 she became a member of the Jeune Ballet du Quebec.

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