Constructive choreography

In his contemporary dance Transports Exceptionnels (Exceptional Transport), French choreographer Dominique Boivin employs an excavator machine not as a static prop, but as an emotional partner in a whimsical outdoor duet, in which the dancer has to overcome his fear of heights.

To classical music and Maria Callas' singing, the dancer crawls on and jumps off the moving handle, sometimes grabbing it with just one hand as it soars as high as 7 meters.

Boivin, artistic director of the Compagnie Beau Geste, has staged this unique dance around the world over the past four years. But it is only now he and the troupe have finally brought it to China as part of the ongoing Festival Croisements 2010, the annual Sino-French cultural exchange.