Portion Control

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Everything in Moderation is a 55-minute contemporary dance show taking place at the George Ignatieff Theatre as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival. It comprises two pieces "Overexposure" and "Race me to the red light. Faster, Better, Namaste" that explores the idea of moderation, or in these cases, lack of it.

Reading the biographies of dancers Christine Birch and Rhonda Baker, I notice that they both graduated from The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Oh, dear. I think I know what the choreography is going to be like. And I'm right with the first piece: twitchy, spastic movements; repeating dance fragments; incidental interactions between the dancers. To be fair, there are some interesting vocabulary from this school such as mirroring and pattern exchanges. I also see a bit of Peggy Baker in the sometimes antagonistic, sometimes helpful relationship between the dancers. But I have seen enough of this style to find anything new in this piece.

The second piece is more comedic. The dancers portray two over-achievers, who strive to out-do each other and push themselves to their physical limits in the quest for slim perfection. Whether it's aerobics, yoga, cross-training, they'll work at it till they throw up or collapse in exhaustion. All the while, positive affirmations and shallow self-help advice play over the speakers. This is an enjoyable piece and its accessibility generates a lot of laughter from the audience.

It's a fun piece but afterward, I was thinking about the meta-narrative. These dancers are much fitter and more flexible than the average office worker. So their portrayal of gasping couch potatoes is played primarily for laughs. But with respect to the night's theme, wouldn't it be interesting to consider how a real, overly intense dancer would approach exercise? What does an aerobics routine or a yoga session look like for a professional dancer who believes in always giving it a 110 percent?