Sisyphus (2007)
Sisyphus
2007
About
Karen Jamieson’s 1983 version of Sisyphus was named one of the ten Canadian Choreographic Masterpieces of the 20th century by Dance Collection Danse in 2003. The twenty-minute dance film by David Rimmer also garnered an award at the New York Dance on Camera Film Festival.The choreography and its physicality are about effort, work, resistance and going against the flow. This vision developed over time while working with the original cast, which included Jamieson, David MacIntyre, Paulette Bibeau, Alison Crawford, Jay Hirabayashi, Lyne Lanthier, Aaron Shields, Tom Stroud, Susan Berganzi, Sal Ferreras, David Hauka, Joyce Ozier and Barbara Clausen. When the work was remounted in 2007, Jamieson approached the choreography in a way that accommodated the new cast (which still included Jamieson, MacIntyre and Hirabayashi from the original group) and even reworked some sections.
- Julye Huggins, The Dance Current, June 7, 2012
More information about Sisyphus 1983 can be found here.
The People
Choreographer: Karen Jamieson
Composer: David MacIntyre
Dancers: Jay Hirabayashi, Amber Funk Barton, Ziyian Kwan, Jessica Fletcher, Deanna Peters, Brian Solomon, Brendan Wyatt, Darcy McMurray, Donald Taruc, Nicole Dupuis, Meredith Kalaman, and Su-Lin Tseng
Understudy: Byron Chief-Moon
Score Recording: Peter Hurst and Nick Apivor
Lighting: Jean Philippe Trépanier
Original 1983 Costume Design: Susan Berganzi
Costume Adaptation 2007: Linda Chow
Reviews
“A dancer of decades, Karen Jamieson knows how difficult it is to work against gravity every day. She can relate to the story of Sisyphus, a king condemned to rolling a boulder up a hill for eternity in Greek mythology.
The story was the inspiration for the choreographer’s landmark dance, Sisyphus.
‘In Sisyphus the question was, what are we doing getting up every morning and hurling our bodies into the air?’ said Jamieson, who first created the work in 1983.
‘It never gets easier to get up early and throw your body against gravity, into the air, to go against the inertia, to go against the flow, against the stream. That’s what Sisyphus is about: going against the flow, going back to the source.’
In Sisyphus, dancers are literally pushing their bodies to the limit, leaping onto each other, throwing themselves into the air, against the ground and up a wall.
The current production of the dance, which premiered at the Vancouver International Dance Festival in 2007, is considered Jamieson’s strongest work.”
- “Sisyphus throws dancers against gravity”
The Morning Star, October 29, 2008
“At the age of 60, Jay Hirabayashi decided to dance the lead role in Sisyphus, a work created for him in 1983 by Karen Jamieson. Over the years, Hirabayashi’s body has matured into an accomplished butoh dancer but lost some of the explosiveness required by the athleticism of western-style dance. Hirabayashi worked for months so he could keep up with dancers more than half his age for a gruelling 22 minutes in a remounting of a classic of modern Canadian dance at the Roundhouse during the Vancouver International Dance Festival.”
- Kevin Griffin
“Best Blast from the Past”
The Vancouver Sun, December 29, 2007
Dance Collection Danse article by Chantal Pontbriand on Sisyphus as one of the ten choreographic masterworks of the 20th century.
Karen Jamieson's Sisyphus by Kaija Pepper - an essay in celebration of Sisyphus' 25th Anniversary
Excerpt of a performance of Sisyphus (2007). Video by Chris Randle.
Excerpt of a performance of Sisyphus (2008) at Kay Meek Arts Centre. Video by Chris Randle.