Isabelle Choinière

The Bodies of the Body

From the spiritual to the electronic limits of our corporal essence.

Machine resources at the bodies disposal- and not the contrary. More than just a reflection, Isabelle Choiniére offers an aesthetic route to attain this maxim in her piece La Partage des Peux. Choreographer and classical ballerina, Isabelle d iscovered in the computer and electronic technology the means to quench her creative restlessness. She produces here a spectacle in which dance movements are amplified by video and computerized images.

On the screen, digitized images of her body are controlled by her movements through the use of sensors spread over her legs, arms and torso- to which are added other images produced on the video. This instigating visual alchemy produces a peculiar electronic eroticism. A theatrical configuration with a musical score as well as the primal cadence of the heartbeat permeates throughout. As these different elements interact during the performance an atmosphere arises brimming with spirituality capable of throwing us back to the domains of xamanic rituals and the numerous levels of corporal manifestations- the physical, the virtual and the electronic. An act of exploring the limits of our essence and corporal nature, in which technology is used, not to filter and stifle our senses, but to amplify them.

Isabelle, a Canadian, became interested in electronic art in 1992, and using her ballerina and choreography formation as a base, has been exploring the many aesthetic possibilities offered by the unique association of computer, video and dance resourc es. Her work, already incorporated into the international mainstream, presents characteristics which qualify her as a creative multimedia investigator, with the capabilities to surprise, instigate and shock.