See Magazine review

Twelve years after he first conceived the idea of uniting his poetry with dance, Edmonton poet Gerald St. Maur is preparing to see his artistic vision come to life.

Edmonton’s Citie Ballet, a company that usually works with emerging dancers, has enlisted a variety of top-notch professionals to produce Lips Love Legs; the roster responsible for this unique blend of dance and poetry features seven choreographers and close to 35 dancers, including "some of the best dancers in the city," says artistic director William Thompson.

The poetry, which has been recorded by professional actors, was commissioned from St. Maur, based on the choreographers’ suggestions, and covers as wide a range of topics as the choreography does dance styles. Thompson’s contribution, Touchez, is a contemporary ballet about "varied aspects of physical, emotional and abstract touch." "On the Art of Touching" is a "tongue-in-cheek" piece about pianos, guitars, and kisses. "Locating Ourself (Part II)" is about a blind man and his white cane. Choreographer Tamara Bliss has created a work based on surrealist paintings by Janet Rayner, whose work inspired the poetry on which the dance is based. And well-known local dancer/choreographer Kathy Metzger-Courriveau will see her flowing, modern work interpreted by dancer Miriam Esquetin, a professional performer from Mexico now living in Edmonton.

Other choreographers include Citie resident Solveig Groenland, a modern dance choreographer with a diploma in dance from Grant MacEwan College, who set her work to an eight-part poem titled "Tundra"; emerging choreographer Christianne Ullmark, who, before leaving to study dance at Ryerson in Toronto, created a solo work, "Man of No Consequence," for Darren Devaney, a dance student at Vic Comp High School; Francois Chevennement, artistic director of Dance Alberta, whose "Woman in a Mirror" is a piece with four dancers set in a contemporary style; and Katalina Bihari, who sets her work to "Aquarium," a series of witty poems about the life of water creatures such as the Octopus, whose love life can be quite complicated:

If bipeds think that two legs bring problems when they mate
They wouldn’t if they ever tried doing it with eight...

The huge cast of dancers makes this a major production, one that will be well managed in the hands of Thompson, who has worked professionally with major choreographers and dancers from all over the world.