Choreographer/s | Emily Gualtieri and David Albert-Toth
Name of piece | A bout de bras
Venue | Firehall Arts Centre
Description
In this powerful and theatrical solo, David Albert-Toth explores our innermost paradoxes. Our thirst for solitude flirts with our fear of being alone, and our infinite desires remain eternally unfulfilled.
Co-choreographed with, and directed by Emily Gualtieri, David is in turn dancer, actor, and magician: a self-undermining virtuoso. The choreographic duo summons the myth of Tantalus and revisits it with the complicity of playwright Étienne Lepage. On stage, David speaks to us with irreverent humour about the absurdity of our primal desires, and of the unspeakable things we are ready to do to satisfy them. He taps deeply into his uncommon, writhing physicality, through trial and error, crystallizing into form and force in fleeting moments. The work is unpredictable, imbued with ambivalent and conflicting desires. As the body shifts through states playing against the duo’s intricate choreographic writing, the piece invokes a global experience of vulnerability, scrutinizing the modern-day individual and, by extension, each one of us.
"When dance and theater are combined well, we are treated to a true moment of grace. À bout de bras delights with its level of virtuosity. A jewel of the performing arts. " - Théâtralités.com
Performer: David Albert-Toth
Lighting board and technical direction: Paul Chambers
Stage manager: Emily Gualtieri
David Albert-Toth
David Albert-Toth is a dancer, choreographer, composer, and co-artistic director of Parts+Labour_Danse. A disposition towards eclectic artistic encounters has led David to perform throughout North America and Europe. Notable collaborations include work with Frédérick Gravel, Human Playground, Lemieux.Pilon 4D-Art and Peter Trosztmer, We All Fall Down, and Compagnie Destins Croisés. He has contributed to interdisciplinary works by Cédric Délorme-Bouchard, CHA Collective (Paul Chambers & David-Alexandre Chabot), Thibaut Duverneix (Gentilhomme), Dominique Porte, Julie Favreau, Moment Factory, Phi Centre, WANT Les Essentiels, and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.
David began a choreographic partnership with Emily Gualtieri in 2011, founding Parts+Labour_Danse. Their works include In Mixed Company (2013; Prix Coup de pouce, Vue sur la relève 2015), La chute (2013; Top Ten 2013 – Dance Current, Audience Choice Award, dance:made in canada festival 2015), La vie attend (2017; Dora Mavor Moore Award 2020 nomination, Outstanding Ensemble), co-produced by Danse-Cité and presented at La Chapelle, Efer (2021; Prix RIDEAU, Parcours Danse 2021) co-produced and presented by Danse Danse, and most recently À bout de bras, a solo he performs, coproduced by Agora de la danse in 2022.
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