“Iam almost 60 and I am going to dance my way out of this world,” says a passionate Dominique Boivin, one of France's most celebrated dancers and choreographers. He started out in acrobatics and moved onto classical dance but eventually found respite in modern dance. He says that classical dance is elitist, with a fixed vocabulary and has no place for innovation or invention. Modern dance, he feels is more an expression of the ‘now'. The instability of modern dance is what excites him. “You buy a Picasso because you know what you are getting, but modern dance is full of surprises. It's ever evolving,” he adds. Dominique is in the city as a part of the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival to present his celebrated piece, Transports exceptionnels — a 20-minute duet between a man and a machine. In this piece, Dominique is not alone, he uses an excavator in this piece. The idea he says came out of a classical duet, between a dancer who represents all traditions, theatre and art, while the machine represents the urban. He says that the idea of having an excavator was to use it as a metaphor of growth and something that carries, elevates, protects and builds a foundation. The world is always under construction, like love - that is continuous and evolving. “When love is over, everything else is dead,” he deliberates. Bridging the gap between theatre and dance is a very important part of Dominique's work. He is heavily inspired by Pina Bausch, the late German performer of modern dance, also a ballet director and choreographer. He says that dance is inspired by stories and signs and he believes in giving centre stage to the ‘body'. Unlike classical performances where the body is the epitome of grace and traditional beauty, Dominique gives due significance to the imperfections of the form. “The body in my dance says ‘this is what I am'” he says. Dominique explains that his work is a culmination of deep-rooted thought; he says that it is not possible to create material merely for the spectators. It is a complete form of self-expression he feels. “It's terrifying to know that the audiences knows and shares your ideas. All you can do is create what is right for you and then it's left to the imagination of the audience,” he says.
