Dancemakers Presents – George Stamos’ reservoir-pneumatic

Paula Citron

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reservoir-pneumatic
Dancemakers Presents
Choreographed by George Stamos
Performed by George Stamos, Clara Furey, Luciane Pinto with composers Owen Chapman and Jackie Gallant
Dancemakers Centre for Creation
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Montreal choreographer George Stamos is idiosyncratic. His new work reservoir-pneumatic is challenging, episodic, prop-filled and imaginative. It is a snapshot from the continuum of life.

Reservoir refers to that part inside us that contains our basic instincts. Pneumatic pertains to objects filled with compressed gas or, in other words, explosive human behaviour and interaction. A lesser known English meaning, but one more common in French, is pneumatic as concerning or involving the soul or spirit.

Stamos depicts the grotesqueries of life. He explores our psychophysical reserves that inspire survival, and how being human is an experiment because our environment is one of perpetual change. The choreography is bone-crunching gymnastic and a twisting of limbs that becomes a visual puzzle. Rarely do the three dancers perform with natural movement.

What Stamos has done in reservoir-pneumatic is skewer our perceptions so we can discover a nasty truth. Life is brutal and just the sheer act of living can make us ugly.