Hula hooper extraordinaire Rebecca Halls takes Tangente patrons for a spin

For nearly a decade, Rebecca Halls has been going in circles — literally. She’s a choreographer/hoop dancer who has elevated her art to a new level while studying contemporary dance at Concordia. Her work Spin chronicles a circular path that brought her to her current home base of Berlin, and then Iceland. Her new solo show, which features footage from the land of fire and ice, opens as part of Tangente’s TransFormes series in a double program that highlights the craft of turning.
 

Credit: Bjorn Ofeigsson

What is it about spinning that keeps you going back?
Through the sensation of spinning, now that I’ve gotten past the initial nausea, I’ve built a sort of tolerance to this. I’ve gotten to a point where I sometimes feel like I’m flying. It’s a freeing sensation.
 

I understand you wanted to go to Iceland as a way to discover your heritage. How did this trip influence your work?
I took the idea of being this central force, or the axis, and brought it into the metaphor of the Earth spinning and the Earth turning. Then I had this experience in Iceland of being on top of the planet and feeling like the Earth is a living thing and the earth turning underneath my feet and really connecting to this living thing, which is rotating around its own axis. As human beings, we get caught up in the busyness of our day-to-day lives, getting from A to B and getting everything done on our to-do list. It’s so easy to forget we are living on this living thing.

Credit: Bjorn Ofeigsson

Spin, with Century of Small by Mira Hunter (Open Secret School of Whirling)
March 1 to 3 at 8:30 p.m. | Monument-National | 1182 St-Laurent Blvd. | tangente.qc.ca 

If you’re interested in trying out hooping, stop in on a workshop with Rebecca March 9 and 10 | Studio Bizz | 551 Mont-Royal East
For the details: rebecca-halls.com