It would be easy to sensationalize the work of Marie Chouinard, as many other critics have, as purely shock tactics. Her early solo work as dancer and performance artist in the late 1970s and early '80s was overshadowed by press coverage of certain risque incidents, including auctioning herself off to the audience, urinating in a bucket and onstage masturbation. Her decision, in 1990, to step off the stage and form her own repertory — Compagnie Marie Chouinard — has seen her ceremoniously unshackle herself from the shock artist label and take on a more mature role as one of the leading choreographers involved in contemporary dance.
The company, based in a newly opened space in the chic Plateau area of Montreal, has toured extensively over the world, garnering accolades and awards for pieces such as "bODY _rEMIX/ gOLDBERG _vARIATIONS" in 2005 and "Chorale" in 2003. Although renowned for stunning visual set-pieces, Chouinard's philosophy is also based on the poetics of the body.
"The body is the most important (aspect of my work) — the intelligence in the body, the spirit in the body and the inner light of the body is the most important thing," said the dancer in an interview this past weekend. This echoes a statement from her company's marketing blurb: "Her raw material is the dancers' flesh, bones and muscles, the instinct and vital impulse of the human body whose intimate connections she exposes."