Pas de deux - Desire - extract

Pas de Deux is a cycle of stories, a sequence of stories. “Pas de Deux” needs no translation, at least not from French to English; in both languages the phrase creates an image of a step, of two steps, of steps taken together. Pas de Deux is a dance, a doubling, a process of discovery through story, music, movement. It began its life in 2007 with the collaboration between Abbi Patrix and Linda Edsjö; in 2008 a third voice entered the equation – that of Erica Wagner, and another aspect of Pas de Deux came into view: the show’s existence as a wholly bilingual project, something that would grow in two languages at once and which could be performed in either. As with so many projects, however, it’s nearly impossible to find the true seed of origin.
“The step that changes everything” is also a phrase that conveys the steps that Abbi, Linda, Erica, took to arrive at this collaboration. When Abbi and Erica sat side by side in the garden of the Maison du Conte in Chevilly-Larue, writing simultaneously in English and in French, writing words that could be spoken aloud as well as read – while Linda played the marimba on the other side of the wall – all felt that this step into a new way to work was possible. As creators, Abbi and Erica come from very different artistic worlds, and yet there was a bridge of language -- the love of language -- between them. It is as if the story exists, a complete being, something external to either language: it comes to life in two tongues, made in parallel.