Modern Feats!

Yes, that's me! I loved his costume. Speaking of costumes, I need to find one.


Hey Friends,

Each spring, New Dance Studio puts on a big weekend of dance at the Portland Performing Arts Center in Portland, Maine. This year is no exception and it's your last chance for awhile to see Louis in Performance.

Modern Feats this year happens from June 1 - 4 with a different performance each evening!

Thursday June 1, it's three Louis pieces for the price of one. I will be performing two solos. The One Teaching, inspired by Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now and CIFUCANCATCHYOURSELF, a newer piece set to music by Robert Een. In addition, Journey of Souls, is a piece of my choreography danced by five amazing dancers from Bowdoin College. This group piece is inspired by the spirit world as expressed by Dr. Michael Newton in his book of the same name. Show time is 8 pm.

Saturday June 3, I will be performing two entirely different solos than I will on Thursday night. You can come both nights! Chakralleluia is a trip through the chakra system and Son is a storydance of a boy and his family. There are longer descriptions of all these pieces at the bottom of this posting. Show time is 8 pm.

Sunday June 4 @ 12:30, my New Dance Studio students ages 8 - 12 will be doing their new dance. The title for this piece has not yet been determined. The Pizza Dance, The Holeless Donuts and Cheezey Weasey Orthodontists Do the British Stomp are among the latest contenders. Personally, I like The Greatest Most Fantastic Show in All the Land; understated but nice. Mostly its just kids doing kid stuff and having fun.

Each show is $15. The program is filled out by amazing dancers from the Portland area and Bates, Bowdoin and USM. You can reserve tickets by calling New Dance Studio @ 207-780-0554. See you at the show!

Here are the longer descriptions of each of my pieces:


Journey of Souls
Choreographed by Louis Gervais
Music: Bird York and Virginia Rodriguez

Performed by Jill Grunnah, Lisa Hardej, Emily Hricko, Nina Shrayer, and Vaness Paloma
Inspired by the best selling classic book Journey of Souls by Dr. Michael Newton, this piece is trip to the spirit world. Atmospheric and beautiful, five women go beyond the veil of amnesia that covers us at birth to tell the stories of the lives they’ve lived and the lives yet to come. At once ethereal and sweeping, Journey of Souls is a peak into a higher reality that one day we all will know is real.

The One Teaching
Created and Performed by Louis Gervais

Inspired by Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now. Three characters represent three different aspects of the egoic mind. Maurice, a thespian enthralled with playing the Elephant Man, is stressed by the possible futures. Georgie, an imateur Australian, is depressed by the absence of his mum. Tiffany, an adolescent, is creating problems for herself. Only the power of the present moment and the tools of t’ai chi, meditation and yoga, can save them from themselves.

Chakralleluia
Created and Performed by Louis Gervais
Music: Suara Parahiangan Group and Rufus Mainwright

The chakras are metaphysical vortices of energy originating in the ancient Indian system of healing, which positions them in seven major centers down the center line of the body, controlling the flow of subtle energies. In this musical solo, the chakras are engaged, examined and incorporated into the efforts toward enlightenment that is trademark of all Louis Gervais’ performance work.

Son
Created and performed by Louis Gervais

“If my family were planets, I would be the sun, Mama would be the earth and Buddy would be the planet where all the Teletubbies lives. Daddy would be all the planets and all the stars and all the spaces in between…maybe that’s why he’s so busy all the time.”

The title character Son, takes us on a tour of his non-traditional family from the perspective of a child. Whether gay marriage is legal or not where he lives does not matter. It is not a governmental sanction that makes his family. It is the love he feels for Mama, Daddy, and Buddy.

CIFUCANCATCHYOURSELF
Created and performed by Louis Gervais
Music by Robert Een

See if you can catch yourself stuck in the future or the past. See if you can catch yourself stuck in a rut or picking yourself to pieces. See if you can catch yourself being a victim. Can you go with the flow? Can you shut off the voice in your head?