Chapel Hill
Orpheus et Eurydice: Compagnie Marie Chouinard
Memorial Hall, UNC CampusCelebrated French-Canadian choreographer and performance artist Marie Chouinard leads her company in an exploration of the myth of Orpheus, a Greek poet who was permitted to lead his dead wife Eurydice out of Hades on the condition that he wouldn’t look back at her on the way out. Orpheus et Eurydice takes a more avant-garde approach to the conventional myth: Don’t expect to see any togas; they’ve been replaced with baggy gray pants, white fur hats and the occasional gold fabric loincloth.
Chouinard and her company’s provocative dances draw the humor, passion and intelligence from Chouinard’s favorite inspiration, the human body. With the new abundance of kitschy dance-related reality shows around todaysuch as Dancing with the Stars or So You Think You Can Dance?it’s easy to forget that there are still choreographers trying to push the art form past the new standard of minute-long crowd pleasers. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. and tickets range from $20-$40, or $10 for UNC students. Tickets and more information are available at www.carolinaperformingarts.org. Hobert Thompson