Photo credit: Do Phan Hoi Photography

FORD MCKEOWN LAROSE

Summer 2019

PROJECT // AmalGame 2.0 is a remake of the piece AmalGame created in 2017 by choreographer Ford Mckeown Larose and inspired by what scientists call “The Chaos Theory”. Better known as “Butterfly Effect”, it is defined as “a chain of events that follow each other and where the former influences the following. We start the chain with an insignificant event and end up with something very different.” This concept has influenced all of his creation process, including both his approach to movement and the manner in which he has worked with the project’s artists; their ideas, errors and omissions have all became starting points in a chain of movements. 

The idea for AmalGame has also evolved from 9 years of experience teaching dance to students of all levels. As a teacher, Ford’s main challenge was to constantly adapt his dance and movement approach to people of varying levels and ages, each with a different training and relationship to their body. This challenge slowly nurtured a general reflection on diversity, unity and aesthetics in dance: how to create an aesthetically homogenous whole from such varied and distinct parts? He continues exploring this problematic through teaching and creating choreographic works. 

In this final version of the project, the performers together embody a single creature that explores its own movements and surrounding space, subsequently subdividing into other creatures which remain interrelated through movement in an action-reaction dynamic. The piece starts at the centre of the stage, with the performers on the floor. Movement begins first with their eyes, followed by their heads, slowly extending to their arms and legs in a wave motion which eventually lifts them up to standing. A single performer separates from the group, and one by one, each person will do the same, while still continuing to react to the group dynamic. The piece alternates group sections, solos and duos and combines fluid, undulatory movements with a robotic style. We end up immersed in a fantastic universe, constructed only using the illusory effects of Popping & Boogaloo.

Ford Mckeown Larose
by Studio Hipnoze

BIOS // Forward Movements is an urban dance company devoted to research and creation. Founded in 2015 in Montreal, it supports, produces and presents the artistic creations of dancer and choreographer Ford Mckeown Larose. The company is specialized in Popping & Boogaloo, a style at the intersection of mime, robotic movements and urban dance, which can be defined as the art of creating illusions. 

Originally from Haiti and based in Montreal, dancer and choreographer Ford Mckeown Larose started in 2009 with Popping & Boogaoo and Hip-Hop. He quickly specialized in Popping and takes part in numerous national and international competitions. 

Having taught at various schools in and around Montreal for more than 9 years, he is particularly known and appreciated for his humanistic and playful approach to dance. Since 2014, he has devoted himself to the creation of choreographic works, mostly through Forward Movement as its creator and artistic director. He constantly tries to push the limits of his dancing. It is a process he perceives first as a game to understand, deconstruct and reshape.