With every tiny movement, Anne Plamondon brings you inside her father's schizophrenia

A life in dance led her to build a performance about her father and his mental illness

Image | Anne Plamondon

Caption: (CBC Arts)

A lifetime of dance — in different cities and different styles — has made Anne Plamondon(external link) a celebrated performer and choreographer. She joined Montreal's lauded RUBBERBANDance Group(external link) in 2002 as a dancer and was co-artistic director there from 2006 until 2016. And it's her vast physical vocabulary and ability to express innumerable emotions, details and moments that is the centre of her piece called Les mêmes yeux que toi, or The Same Eyes as Yours(external link). It's a performance that tells the story of her father's schizophrenia — "his mimics, his physicality, his tics, the words that he would say, his behaviours."

Watch the video:

Media Video | Exhibitionists : Anne Plamondon's The Same Eyes as Yours

Caption: Choreographer and performer Anne Plamondon explains how her life in dance led to her interpreting her father's schizophrenia in her own movements. Filmmaker: Alejandro Álvarez Cadilla

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First staged in 2012, Plamondon has returned to rehearse The Same Eyes as Yours anew, translated into English. As you'll see in this video made by filmmaker Alejandro Álvarez Cadilla(external link) (also the star of CBC Arts series Off Kilter(external link)), Plamondon has compelling reasons to keep coming back to this work.
She says: "When it got in front of an audience, people would come up to me after and say, 'This is my brother.' 'This is my sister.' 'This is my uncle.' 'This is my grandfather.' 'This is me.'"
Keep up with Anne Plamondon here(external link).

Image | Anne Plamandon

Caption: (CBC Arts)

Image | Anne Plamandon

Caption: (CBC Arts)

Image | Anne Plamandon

Caption: (CBC Arts)

Stream CBC Arts: Exhibitionists(external link) or catch it on CBC Television Friday nights at 11:30pm (12am NT) and Sundays at 3:30pm (4pm NT). Watch more videos here(external link).