Direction assistée, or power steering, is, in automobile vocabulary, a mechanical system that makes it easier to turn. It is also a choreographic piece by four women who assign themselves roles and take on challenges that mobilize words, perceptions, and movements of all kinds. What imaginary world is created by a language and the person who speaks it? Focusing on the intimate connections with mother tongue and relationships with foreign languages, Direction assistée provokes curiosity about the sounds and codes specific to an idiom, leading us to experience the possibilities of inter-comprehension. Through unexpected and sometimes imperceptible exchanges, the performers also explore the audience’s influence through cooperative games, monologues, and figurative tableaux. With an intergenerational cast of Jacqueline Van De Geer, Karina Iraola, Elinor Fueter, and Maria Kefirova, the piece embodies a group organized within a logic of communication that is both foreign and unifying.
The approach of choreographer Brice Noeser, who grew up here and there, is marked by the diversity of languages, as he has focused on the power, influence, and capacity of words to connect us to what surrounds us, to imagine a world, to build it. When he crossed paths with dance, he made it his discipline here in Quebec. A graduate of the École de danse de Québec (2006), he performed the duo Brutus et Sabulle and the solo piece Mandragore at Tangente, OFFTA, Vue sur la Relève, La Rotonde (Quebec City) and the Gaz Station Theater (Winnipeg). The duet Ruminant Ruminant (2014), for which he collaborated with performer and artist Karina Iraola, marked a turning point in his approach. Reprised at Quebec dance venues (Tangente, La Rotonde, OFFTA), the piece has been seen in Montreal (Théâtre La Chapelle), Mexico (Mexico City; Puebla; Tlaxcala), France (Bordeaux), and Spain (Bilbao) over the past five years. Recently, he developed the project Direction assistée (2022), produced by Danse-Cité (Montreal), and the solo piece Alphabête (2022), co-produced by Créations Estelle Clareton.
Ideation and choreography
Brice Noeser
Co-creation in studio
Karina Iraola, Dean Makarenko, Maria Kefirova, Elinor Fueter, Audrée Juteau, Charo Foo Tai Wei, Jacqueline Van de Geer
Performance on stage
Karina Iraola, Jacqueline Van de Geer, Maria Kefirova, Elinor Fueter
Dramaturgical accompaniment
Catherine Tardif, Lynda Gaudreau
Lighting design
Lucie Bazzo
Scenographic design
Karine Galarneau
Sound arrangement
Éric Forget
Production assistance
Magdalena Marszalek (par le soutien de Créations Estelle Clareton)
Production
Danse-cité
Promotion and Communications Manager
Dgeyne Dantiste
Support for marketing and development
Luce Couture
Financial support for the Furies 2023 takeover
CALQ
CAC