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Adjectives pour forth when thinking of Imago, performed last night at Dancing on the Edge. It is the 38th
year of DOTE, Canada’s longest running contemporary dance festival. The arts and therefore, dance, are
important to the fabric of our city. Dance offers an opportunity to explore the human condition. Imago
was breathtaking in its tension, strength and grace as the aerial artists took the audience on an
emotional journey.

Working within a misty, hazy stage environment the dance artists first explored a sense of tension
within a relationship as one pulled the other on a thick hemp rope onto the stage. Music thrummed with
electronic sound enhancing the feeling of tension and struggle. The dancers brought the audience into
their story. One could not help but be moved by the intensity exuded on stage.

Imago is a very complex piece, bringing many aspects of a relationship into focus. The lighting by Sophie
Tang is very effective. Working within cones of hazy light gave the effect of the dancers being slightly
removed from each other mimicking the feeling of isolation that we all feel at times. Tang also created a
floor of light under which a dancer reached out with arms or legs towards the other dancer further
creating a sense of isolation and disconnection. The technique by Tang gave an otherworldliness to this
sequence of the piece.

When the aerial artists took to the air with the acrobatics reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil strength, grace
and trust were introduced to the story of Imago. There is a sexual intimacy to this section of the dance
brought forth by the physical closeness and trust each dancer had to have in the other. Grief and the
agony of separation were explored in a solo by Hughes. Metzmeier’s aerial solo was breathtaking. The
strength, agility and balletic grace she exuded was hypnotic.

Imago, a western Canadian premiere by Corpo Imago, explores the inner reaches of what comprises our humanness. Imago, a deeply moving experience.

 

© 2026 Nancie Ottem