The Ten Commandments

« Harold Rhéaume fait partie de ceux qui dansent pour dire, pour émouvoir. Il en va ainsi quand il interprète […] comme lorsqu’il prend le taureau de la création par les cornes. »
— La Presse • mai 1997

In 1998, Harold Rhéaume initiated his first great work: The Ten Commandments. Ambitious project for the young choreographer, this show featuring ten interpreters was presented for five nights at the Place des Arts de Montréal by Danse-Cité. A piece that then raised complex issues about collective values and moral codes that support living together.

The initial inspiration originated from the degraded and ravaged aesthetics of Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996), cinematic adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s novel. “The first click occured watching the movie Trainspotting. The scene in which an infant is found dead while the parents were doing drugs in an adjacent room outraged me.” Shocked by the dull reflection of a sickened humanity, the choreographer’s questionings are thus summarised: As we move into this new millennium, where is heading morale?

Driven by this desire to survey human condition, Rhéaume reunites 10 interpreters on stage, 5 women and 5 men, exploring inclusion and living together with the immutable support of the multiple facets of the tables of the law.

« Construire un monde nouveau, telle est l’utopie d’Harold Rhéaume. Une civilité franche et loyale, presque classique, répond aux mondes implacables, égoïstes ou particuliers qui nous entourent et réaffirme la valeur de l’universalité. »
— JEU Revue de théâtre (91) • 1999