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
2008 Classical 96.3fm
Across Oceans – Maxine Heppner’s Moments in Time
Together, Heppner and Sagawa created a dance piece that
exposes the very heart of the human condition.
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.
Globe and Mail
Reaching a new state of mind
MOMENTS IN TIME
Across Oceans
At Pia Bouman Studio Theatre
in Toronto on Sunday
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 14 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.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."