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Classical 96.3fm
Across Oceans – Maxine Heppner’s Moments in Time
Choreographer Maxine Heppner and dancer Takako Segawa presented their thoughtful piece Moments in Time at the Pia Bouman Studio Theatre over the weekend. Two veteran dance artists collaborating together can produce very satisfying work.
Heppner is an accomplished choreographer and Segawa is a compelling performer. Segawa’s subtle facial expressions played an important role in the piece. With just the hint of a smile, or a wider opening of the eyes, she could convey an intriguing shift in Heppner’s dance monologue.
Together, Heppner and Sagawa created a well-thought out dance piece that exposes the very heart of the human condition.
Sensational "Moments in Time"
Your sensational "Moments in Time" work resonated in me... images surfaced unbidden throughout the following week, and even now I conjure up memories of "characters" and feel moved. I liked the projection of women's feelings, as we are more intense, I think, than is often projected or communicated. I rarely have such a response to performances although if I were wealthy I would like to be a patron!
I hope that this work can be shown for larger audiences in the future or for more audiences and would not be surprised if "it has a life of its own". Hurrah for you both! and warm congratulations on your enduring art.
Fran Khanna, Gestalt Institute, PhD-OISE
Moments in Time
I have watched a lot of dance over the years and was blown away by the exquisite performance. The work became translucent through Takako. Maxine and Takako are an unbeatable team. I wish my words could express as much as your performance did. I want to see more!
Lois Van Koghnet, Theatre Designer
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Globe and Mail
Reaching a new state of mind
Moments in Time is a fitting name for the collaboration between choreographer Maxine Heppner and dancer Takako Segawa for more reasons than one: The veteran artists have been building the full-length work over five years and together they have produced a satisfying, thoughtful episodic work.
The piece is made up of 13 solos, each intriguingly named after a person and a state of mind. For example, the beginning solo is Jess's serenity followed by Susi's inspiration and Tina's compassion.
The work can be viewed as specific snapshots from these various people's lives, or collectively the solos may reflect the totality of a single life with its shifting emotional moods. In the latter case, the names, perhaps, become the people who have generated the response in the protagonist.
Heppner as a choreographer is fascinated by both the whole physical cloth of dance as well as small details. The 13 solos range from Segawa executing highly energetic athleticism to almost slow-motion minimalism. The audience is kept abreast of the names of each solo by surtitles, which informs how we view the dance itself.
There is also a parade of slides that splash over Segawa containing patterns of oriental carpets that also dictate mood.
Clearly, Heppner wants to direct us in our focus.
Segawa is a compelling performer. She has a compact body that couples easy physicality with natural grace, but she can also play with gravity - at one point, she's as light as a feather; at another, she's weighted down by the pull of the Earth itself. Her subtle facial expressions play an important role in the piece. With just the hint of a smile, or a wider opening of the eyes, she can convey an intriguing shift in her interior monologue. As wonderful a dancer as Segawa is, she did at times overbalance and lose some of the crispness of her attack, particularly in changes between movement patterns, but this made her all the more human. Music also plays a key role in the performance. The compilation score includes early music, folk-inspired world beat, flamenco guitar, Indonesian gongs and abstract electronica. Silence as a backdrop is also used.
Segawa also changes costume either by donning a whole new set of clothes, or by rolling up pant legs or taking off layers of tops. Thus each solo preserves its own individual integrity through movement, music (or lack thereof) and visual attributes.
The solos each have their own movement leitmotifs. For example, Chin's burden is executed with arms tightly folded across the chest and almost slow-motion physicality. In Galih's present, Segawa loosens her body to embody a gangling teenager. Here the choreography is all about stamping of feet interpolated by fast and furious swivels. Sue's desire is manifested by sensuous writhing on the floor, the legs slicing in scissor cuts.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the work is that Heppner plays with her own choreographic signatures, those telltale repeating physicalities that hallmark a creator. They are the movement themes, but they are also the variations. The great swoop of arms, the high kick of one leg, the bent body turns, for example, are always present, but are assembled differently in each solo.
It is as if Heppner is deliberately saying, "Here I am as a choreographic writer and this is my vocabulary."
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