{"id":167361,"date":"2026-10-29T11:01:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T15:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/gig_review\/my-fierce-ignorant-step-christos-papadopoulos-danse-danse-montreal-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T11:19:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T15:19:18","slug":"my-fierce-ignorant-step-christos-papadopoulos-danse-danse-montreal-2026","status":"publish","type":"gig_review","link":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/en\/gig_review\/my-fierce-ignorant-step-christos-papadopoulos-danse-danse-montreal-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"My Fierce Ignorant Step at Danse Danse: the seduction of emptiness\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is no denying it: My Fierce Ignorant Step<\/em> by Christos Papadopoulos, presented by Danse Danse last night in Montreal, is captivating. But, a bit like doomscrolling, strangely unsatisfying too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is an insistent soundtrack, with irrepressible beats, that accompanies, without faltering for a single second, the 60 minutes of Christos Papadopoulos’ metronomic choreography. A modern choral masterpiece is partially sampled (Axion Esti <\/em>by Miki Theodorakis) and transformed by Kornilios Selamsis and Jeph Vanger, who also add their own personal contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MY FIERCE IGNORANT STEP CONTINUES UNTIL OCTOBER 31, 2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

INFO AND TICKETS <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It starts with light beats, the clicks of a lighter that won’t ignite (the observation comes from a friend). But one quickly senses a crescendo that will prove relentless. In the manner of Ravel’s Bol\u00e9ro, the repetitive and tirelessly repeated rhythm serves as the framework for a slow, very slow construction. Little by little, elements are added: a drum kit filling the gaps, a piano playing a single chord, repeated as is every six measures of four beats, then strings, initially slightly off-center in relation to the rhythmic mechanics, and finally brass and a choir, in sampling. But it lacks, unlike the Bol\u00e9ro, a melody that would dress the whole, a sinuous phrase that would act as a counterweight to the rigorous and obsessive mechanics. A humanist mortar to this increasingly impenetrable sound wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this framework, the bodies become one, moving like birds in coordinated flight. Rarely, almost never in fact, do the nine dancers interact with each other. Solitudes carried, guided, by the same system of thought. You don’t feel the oppression of any regime here. It is not, obviously, a disguised social and political critique. No, there is clearly an exaltation and satisfaction in living, individually, solitarily, the same pleasure as one’s neighbour. But to whom we never speak. Countless back-and-forths from back to front, from left to right across the stage. The same swaying, the same lunges, the same stretches, arms, legs, heads, except, as I said, for the rarest exceptions. All of this, to the musical beat, is initially captivating, hypnotic. Halfway through, I wonder if we are not running on empty. The attraction remains, but it has lost its initial magic. A bit like the mindless scrolling we all succumb to on our phones in the evening. The first spark is invigorating, the following ones maintain the passion for a while, then we start to wonder what all this really brings us, if there shouldn’t be more nourishing complexity to taste somewhere. If we shouldn’t be doing something else, stepping out of our comfortable bubbles, which are ultimately very conformist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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