IT'S ABOUT TIME

“It’s About Time” presentsworks by guest choreographers as well as by ballet director Dominique Dumais. Multi-part programs of this kind offer the audience different perspectives on a theme and, at the same time, the opportunity to experience the dancers interpreting various choreographic styles.
As the title suggests, the theme here is time. Our daily lives seem to be moving ever faster, and terms like “time efficiency” are on everyone’s lips. But do we actually have any influence over time? Time is a human-constructed, structural system that ties into the cycles of natural laws, from seasons and times of day to the tides of the sea. At the same time, our understanding of time is shaped by cultural and social influences. The perception of time is always subjective. Our language reflects different images of time, expressing the various demands we place on it. We speak of taking time, gaining time, having time, losing time, using time (properly), and of the desire to stop time.
Our bodies, too, follow a temporal rhythm, starting with our heartbeat and breath. In doing so, our body grounds us in the present moment. Touch—that is, a shared physical experience—seems to make time stand still for a moment. Memories are our connection to past times, while we make plans for the future.
In dance, movements are structured temporally according to a tempo, such as through music, rhythm, or a shared breath. Choreography is defined as movement in time and space. As a performative art, dance is just as ephemeral as time. Every moment is unique in the present of the performance.