ODE BY CATHERINE GAUDET

Ten performers, hand in hand like a chain of paper dolls, form a pop-pagan procession. Their bliss is divine: you want to sink into their idyllic world, bask in the same sunshine. But just as you want them to keep going forever, the devious mind of choreographer Catherine Gaudet reveals something disturbing within this simple landscape, a place where everything is ruled by the imperative to be happy.

"ODE" surfaces from the dank basement of "Les jolies choses," Gaudet’s last piece that took the dance world by storm. What should have stayed hidden in the perfect shadows re-emerges. What is the price we pay to maintain the image of collective harmony? Without flinching, Gaudet and her team take aim at false pretenses. Slowly and steadily, the performers’ hands start to twitch, the choir grows hoarse, the tipping point is activated and pursued. An example of collective possession in its most arresting form.