By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
FINANCIAL DISTRICT − Surrounded by skyscrapers, gawking tourists, and curious downtown office workers, Paul-Andre Fortier has been performing a 30 minute dance routine in the middle of a downtown plaza in the heat of the midday sun for 15 days.
Fortier, 62, a Canadian choreographer, is a flurry of angles and emotions as he dashes and struggles around a 30 by 30 square in his "Solo 30 x 30" performance, part of the downtown River to River Festival.
"I'm dancing to the noise of the city, to the sirens and the helicopters," Fortier said after his Friday performance at Water and Broad streets. "It's for the sort of people who don't do out to see contemporary dance."
Jodi White, 40, who works in One New York Plaza, has seen the performance twice.
"He taps into all these emotions. I'm still not sure what it means, but it feels like he's struggling with deamons," said White, who cried during the performance.
"He breaks the fourth wall, and he looks at everyone with such compassion," she said.
Jaspal Singh, of New Jersey, also enjoyed the show.
"Although I still can't claim to fully understand what it means, it's definitely a nice touch," said Singh, who was taking a training course in a nearby office building. "I saw this on the way out and made a concerted effort to get lunch and come back to watch it."
Fortier says the piece, which is co-presented by The Joyce Theater, is about a man coming to terms with the isolation of a big city. Toward the end of the performance, as he raises his arms to embrace the buildings, and waves directly at spectators, he's trying to reconcile the concrete with the human.
"The buildings are so cold, when I lift my head and the clouds drift by, I get vertigo," Fortier said.
New Yorkers make a uniquely respectful audience with people swaying along and waiting to thank him after performances.
"New Yorkers are exposed to so many things, it takes a lot to surprise them," Fortier said.
"Solo 30 x 30"will run for a total of 30 days, until Aug. 15, rain or shine.
