We are excited to see this piece this evening! It is getting great buzz!!
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Preview: Another Thousand Mountains
Opening tomorrow for a short but sweet run at The Music Gallery is a collection of dance pieces from Barbara Lindenberg. The collection under the name, Another Thousand Mountains will be a fascinating experience in the art of movement and expression.
Show Description:
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Dates Added for Toward Light at Harbourfront's NextSteps
Harbourfront Centre is reporting that a performance has been added to Harbourfront Centre’s NextSteps 2012-13 season. Toward Light: A Tribute to Rachel Browne by Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers. Twenty-one dancers take to the stage as Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers (WCD) honours their beloved founder, Rachel Browne, by remounting nine of her signature works from 1964 through 2012. Her work has influenced generations of dancers whom she has trained and directed, and as the founding artistic director of WCD, she also gave numerous choreographers a place to develop and mount their works. Browne remained active as a choreographer, teacher and performer until her passing. She had received numerous awards, most notably the 1995 Jean A. Chalmers Award for Creativity in Dance, the 2000 Canada Council Jacqueline Lemieux Prize and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1997.
Rachel Browne passed away at the age of 77 while in attendance this summer at the 2012 Canada Dance Festival. Toward Light is a loving tribute to this icon of Canadian modern dance.
Saturday, January 12 at 8pm
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Fleck Dance Theatre
Regular priced tickets are $25 and are available at the box office;
click here or call 416-973-4000
Preview: Japan’s Hiroaki Umeda/S20
NOW Magazine’s Glenn Sumi named Political Mother and Dark Matters in his top 5 dance shows of 2012, so it is exciting to see more dance at Canadian Stage in 2013. To start, they're featuring two performances from Japan’s Hiroaki Umeda/S20 as part of the Spotlight Japan festival in February.
A star of Japan’s avant-garde dance scene, Hiroaki Umeda/S20 combines hip-hop, soundscape, and video/light effects in two utterly hypnotic performances. Haptic and Holistic Strata will be presented as a double-bill, and all tickets are $54.
This show runs Feb 26 - March 2nd. This is a short run at the Berkeley Theatre and tickets will go fast. So click here for information and links to buy tickets
Friday, October 26, 2012
Preview: Harbourfront presents World Stage 2013
Two days ago our friends over at Harbourfront and World Stage have just released their 2013 line up and it looks quite delicious. Please scroll below for information on each individual piece and for exact dates and details.
PRESS RELEASE:
TORONTO, ON (Wednesday, October 24, 2012) – Harbourfront Centre announces the artists, companies and performance dates for World Stage 2013. The series opens in February 2013 and continues until May, offering select works of provocative and cutting-edge international and Canadian contemporary artists.
This season welcomes productions and artists from Canada, Germany, Côte d’Ivoire, Brazil, Australia, China, Norway, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands. The work proposes to redefine the act of witnessing, as it chronicles a day in the life in Auschwitz in KAMP (CAMP), negotiates a thin line between love and brutality in Still Standing You, and throws us to the dogs in Dachshund UN.
Over the past decades, World Stage has granted access to performances and in-depth discussions with the industry’s best including; Christopher Plummer, Laurie Anderson, Robert LePage, Cillian Murphy, Atom Egoyan, Elizabeth LeCompte, Kitt Johnson, Wayne McGregor, and Young Jean Lee to name a few.
PRESS RELEASE:
Harbourfront Centre Announces
WORLD STAGE 2013
This season welcomes productions and artists from Canada, Germany, Côte d’Ivoire, Brazil, Australia, China, Norway, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands. The work proposes to redefine the act of witnessing, as it chronicles a day in the life in Auschwitz in KAMP (CAMP), negotiates a thin line between love and brutality in Still Standing You, and throws us to the dogs in Dachshund UN.
Shakespeare is turned on his head in a triptych of works that make the Bard relevant, immediate and moving with Toronto’s own LEAR, and 2 German works, She She Pop & Their Fathers: Testament and Othello c’est qui (Othello, who’s that).
Dance is featured prominently for aficionados and newbies alike, as dance and soccer fans can rally around Norway’s A Dance Tribute to the Art of Football, scratch the surface of contemporary expression from superpower China with TAO Dance Theater, and warmly welcome the return of dance heavyweights Grupo Corpo.
As a pioneering culture port, World Stage’s commitment to developing Toronto artists continues with bold new work from Ame Henderson/Public Recordings in what we are saying, and Heidi Strauss/Toronto Dance Theatre with Everyday Anthems.
Established in 1986, World Stage has presented artists and companies from over 40 countries, bringing the world’s most dynamic performance leaders to share and develop contemporary viewpoints with Toronto audiences while showcasing local artists who have gone on to tour internationally. From the 2012 season, The Dietrich Group’s Paris1994/Gallery has traveled to Singapore and Evan Webber and Frank Cox O’Connell’s Ajax & Little Iliad has been booked across Canada and in Europe.
Over the past decades, World Stage has granted access to performances and in-depth discussions with the industry’s best including; Christopher Plummer, Laurie Anderson, Robert LePage, Cillian Murphy, Atom Egoyan, Elizabeth LeCompte, Kitt Johnson, Wayne McGregor, and Young Jean Lee to name a few.
World Stage productions have received Dora Award nominations and multiple wins, most recently Outstanding Production, Dance Division for Out of Context - for Pina by Alain Platel (Les Ballets C de la B) and Outstanding Touring Production, General Theatre Division for Mabou Mines DollHouse.
World Stage 2013 Season: Productions and Dates:
Othello, c’est qui (Othello, who’s that)
Gintersdorfer/Klaßen (Germany | Côte d’Ivoire)
Performed in English and French
February 6-9, Enwave Theatre, 70 mins
While Othello may be the single most famous black man on the Western stage, in Africa, hardly anybody has heard of him. In this fearless and radical reinvestigation of one of Shakespeare’s most iconic characters, what begins as a playful conversation about the clichés surrounding Othello and Desdemona quickly evolves into a provocative confrontation between two cultures. A mischievous but hard-hitting exchange, Gintersdorfer/Klaßen’s frank and very human production won first prize at the 2009 Theater Festival Impulse, and has engaged audiences around the world ever since.
Sem Mim & Ímã
Grupo Corpo (Brazil)
February 19-23, Fleck Dance Theatre, 110 mins, including intermission
Two spectacular dance productions from this world-renowned company. In Sem Mim, meaning “without me,” “tattooed” dancers merge the rhythm of the sea with the music of medieval Portuguese-Galician chants. The second work, Ímã, meaning “magnet,” takes inspiration from the law of magnetism where dancers passionately entwine and separate in poetic polarities. Always a hit with World Stage audiences, Grupo Corpo combines classical ballet technique with a contemporary rereading of Brazilian and world dance forms. The end results are performances that are virtuosic, athletic, breathtaking and simply spectacular.
Dachshund UN
World Stage 2013 Season: Productions and Dates:
Othello, c’est qui (Othello, who’s that)
Gintersdorfer/Klaßen (Germany | Côte d’Ivoire)
Performed in English and French
February 6-9, Enwave Theatre, 70 mins
While Othello may be the single most famous black man on the Western stage, in Africa, hardly anybody has heard of him. In this fearless and radical reinvestigation of one of Shakespeare’s most iconic characters, what begins as a playful conversation about the clichés surrounding Othello and Desdemona quickly evolves into a provocative confrontation between two cultures. A mischievous but hard-hitting exchange, Gintersdorfer/Klaßen’s frank and very human production won first prize at the 2009 Theater Festival Impulse, and has engaged audiences around the world ever since.
Sem Mim & Ímã
Grupo Corpo (Brazil)
February 19-23, Fleck Dance Theatre, 110 mins, including intermission
Two spectacular dance productions from this world-renowned company. In Sem Mim, meaning “without me,” “tattooed” dancers merge the rhythm of the sea with the music of medieval Portuguese-Galician chants. The second work, Ímã, meaning “magnet,” takes inspiration from the law of magnetism where dancers passionately entwine and separate in poetic polarities. Always a hit with World Stage audiences, Grupo Corpo combines classical ballet technique with a contemporary rereading of Brazilian and world dance forms. The end results are performances that are virtuosic, athletic, breathtaking and simply spectacular.
Dachshund UN
Bennett Miller (Australia)
Production Sponsor: PawsWay
February 28-March 3, Enwave Theatre, 50 mins
Shock, delight, cacophony! A meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights is staged with the help of specially recruited dachshunds in this wild performance installation. Joyful and chaotic, spectacular and fascinating, Dachshund UNquestions our capacity to imagine and achieve a universal system of justice. Creator Bennett Miller is a sculptor and installation artist whose aim is to create theatre as a political arena by exploring active viewership and durational performance. Admittance to this show is free on a first-come, first-serve basis. Performances will also be webcast. If you have a dachshund and want to participate, email dogshow@harbourfrontcentre.com.
LEAR
Philip McKee (Canada)
Co-produced by Harbourfront Centre
March 5-10, Studio Theatre, 80 mins
Canadian performance legend Clare Coulter steps into the title role of Shakespeare’s King Lear in this intimate and powerful portrait of passing on a legacy, in a family and in the theatre. A reinvigorated and sensitive overturning of a timeless tragedy. Philip McKee is an emerging performance maker and director within Canada’s theatre scene. In LEAR, he’s assembled an exciting group of collaborators for this surprising staging. LEAR originally appeared as part of Harbourfront Centre’s HATCH performing arts residency programme in 2011. For more information about HATCH, visit harbourfrontcentre.com/hatch.
Everyday Anthems
Toronto Dance Theatre (Canada)
March 6-9, Fleck Dance Theatre, 70 mins
Choreographed by rising star Heidi Strauss, along with text from playwright Brendan Gall, this new dance work explores anthems as a metaphor for overcoming obstacles, for things unrequited, for personal strength and belonging. An impassioned performance that poses questions around power, pride and unity in the face of difference. Strauss’s first creation for Toronto Dance Theatre draws on the embodied histories of her performers to create a richly physical ensemble work. Toronto Dance Theatre, under the artistic direction of Christopher House, is recognized for intelligent choreography and the exceptional artistry of its dancers.
Weight x3 & 2
Production Sponsor: PawsWay
February 28-March 3, Enwave Theatre, 50 mins
Shock, delight, cacophony! A meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights is staged with the help of specially recruited dachshunds in this wild performance installation. Joyful and chaotic, spectacular and fascinating, Dachshund UNquestions our capacity to imagine and achieve a universal system of justice. Creator Bennett Miller is a sculptor and installation artist whose aim is to create theatre as a political arena by exploring active viewership and durational performance. Admittance to this show is free on a first-come, first-serve basis. Performances will also be webcast. If you have a dachshund and want to participate, email dogshow@harbourfrontcentre.com.
LEAR
Philip McKee (Canada)
Co-produced by Harbourfront Centre
March 5-10, Studio Theatre, 80 mins
Canadian performance legend Clare Coulter steps into the title role of Shakespeare’s King Lear in this intimate and powerful portrait of passing on a legacy, in a family and in the theatre. A reinvigorated and sensitive overturning of a timeless tragedy. Philip McKee is an emerging performance maker and director within Canada’s theatre scene. In LEAR, he’s assembled an exciting group of collaborators for this surprising staging. LEAR originally appeared as part of Harbourfront Centre’s HATCH performing arts residency programme in 2011. For more information about HATCH, visit harbourfrontcentre.com/hatch.
Everyday Anthems
Toronto Dance Theatre (Canada)
March 6-9, Fleck Dance Theatre, 70 mins
Choreographed by rising star Heidi Strauss, along with text from playwright Brendan Gall, this new dance work explores anthems as a metaphor for overcoming obstacles, for things unrequited, for personal strength and belonging. An impassioned performance that poses questions around power, pride and unity in the face of difference. Strauss’s first creation for Toronto Dance Theatre draws on the embodied histories of her performers to create a richly physical ensemble work. Toronto Dance Theatre, under the artistic direction of Christopher House, is recognized for intelligent choreography and the exceptional artistry of its dancers.
Weight x3 & 2
TAO Dance Theater (China)
Production Sponsor: ManuLife Financial
March 20-23, Fleck Dance Theatre, 90 mins, including intermission
Two incisive works by China’s emerging leaders of contemporary dance that shatter expectations. Weight x3 is a triptych of pieces concerned with stretching the boundaries of physical practice. In 2, the dancers’ bodies fold, collapse, invert and mirror each other to convey the movement (and rigidity) of language. Since its inception in 2008, TAO Dance Theater has established itself as one of the most provocative contemporary dance companies in China. Through rigorous, sincere, and exploratory corporeal research, they are discovering the body’s unknown possibilities and taking Chinese dance in bold new directions.
A Dance Tribute to the Art of Football
Jo Strømgren Kompani (Norway)
Production Sponsor: BMO Financial
April 10-13, Fleck Dance Theatre, 60 mins
A series of comic, tough and tender vignettes celebrating the world’s favourite game in which the form and physical patterns of football (soccer) are deconstructed. This work offers an opportunity to reflect on the similarities and differences between sport and art. Behind slow-motion replays and locker room rituals lurks a sophisticated take on a global obsession that speaks volumes about the human condition. Jo Strømgren Kompani is one of Scandinavia’s most established independent dance theatre companies, combining raw physicality with absurd humour.
Advisory: Contains partial nudity.
She She Pop & Their Fathers: Testament
She She Pop (Germany)
Performed in German with English surtitles
April 17-20, Enwave Theatre, 120 mins
Mirroring the story of King Lear and his daughters, She She Pop members take to the stage with their own aging fathers to enumerate their inheritances and negotiate how power, money, memory and love are passed along across the generations. With the drive of a game show, this heart wrenching and humourous work strives to find the intersections of responsibility and respect between parents and children. She She Pop, based in Berlin and Hamburg, is one of Germany’s most important performance collectives.
Still Standing You
Pieter Ampe & Guilherme Garrido/CAMPO (Belgium/Portugal)
April 23-24 & 26-27, Enwave Theatre, 45 mins
Unadorned, hilarious, moving and disturbing. With the instruments of their bodies, this Belgian Portuguese duo offers a mischievous glimpse into the kaleidoscope of friendship. From slaps on the back to violent strokes of a leather belt, the pair tests the strength of their relationship. The artists invite the audience to consider associations of touch, tenderness, violence and struggle between the bodies of men. CAMPO, which brought That Night Follows Day to World Stage audiences in 2009, is a Ghent-based art centre that creates and presents work at all stages of development on a national and international scale.
Advisory: contains full frontal nudity
what we are saying (Canada)
Ame Henderson/Public Recordings
Presented in association with The Power Plant
May 23-26, The Power Plant, 60 mins
Expanding upon findings from 300 Tapes and relay, Public Recordings asks: "What can we say about our future and how do we say it together?" Using language and movement to explore new perspectives of our world and each other, an assembly of performers responds to uncertainty, potential danger, and possibility in an unobstructed performance space. Since 2003, widely-acclaimed Public Recordings has been supporting and promoting the works of dancemaker Ame Henderson and her collaborators. The Power Plant, part of Harbourfront Centre, is Canada’s leading public gallery devoted exclusively to contemporary visual art.
KAMP (CAMP)
Hotel Modern (Netherlands)
May 23-26, Enwave Theatre, 60 mins
With an enormous scale model of Auschwitz filling the stage, thousands of eight-centimetre-tall handmade puppets represent the prisoners and their executioners. The performers move through the set like giant war reporters, or silent gods, filming the horrific events with miniature cameras. The audience becomes witness. Hotel Modern attempts to imagine the unimaginable: the greatest mass murder in history, committed in a purpose-built city. Established in 1997, Hotel Modern blends visual arts, puppetry, music and film in evocative productions by representing harsh reality in a refined poetic manner.
World Stage Tickets: Help deliver world-renowned programming like World Stage by becoming a Harbourfront Centre donor. Donors receive advance World Stage 2013 ticket purchasing opportunities, starting October 24, before the public on sale date of November 7. Regular ticket buyers can save up to 50% with a World Stage Flex Pass. Purchase four tickets to any World Stage shows for only $110 or eight tickets for $180. The Flex Pass is only on sale until January 23, 2013. Regular ticket packages (three or more productions) offer discounts and exclusive partner offers, discounted parking and more. The CultureBreak programme, designed for 13-25 year-old arts and culture cravers and/or students of all ages offers $15 tickets to any show, any time. Seniors, groups of 10 or more, arts workers and NextSteps ticket buyers save 20%. Single tickets available anytime via our box office by calling 416-973-4000 , Tuesday to Saturday, 1-6pm, or online atharbourfrontcentre.com.
Extras: World Stage goes deeper to deliver a more textured performance experience for audiences by offering post-performance talkshows on the second night of the run with guest hosts and cast members, opening night receptions and artist development workshops.
Production Sponsor: ManuLife Financial
March 20-23, Fleck Dance Theatre, 90 mins, including intermission
Two incisive works by China’s emerging leaders of contemporary dance that shatter expectations. Weight x3 is a triptych of pieces concerned with stretching the boundaries of physical practice. In 2, the dancers’ bodies fold, collapse, invert and mirror each other to convey the movement (and rigidity) of language. Since its inception in 2008, TAO Dance Theater has established itself as one of the most provocative contemporary dance companies in China. Through rigorous, sincere, and exploratory corporeal research, they are discovering the body’s unknown possibilities and taking Chinese dance in bold new directions.
A Dance Tribute to the Art of Football
Jo Strømgren Kompani (Norway)
Production Sponsor: BMO Financial
April 10-13, Fleck Dance Theatre, 60 mins
A series of comic, tough and tender vignettes celebrating the world’s favourite game in which the form and physical patterns of football (soccer) are deconstructed. This work offers an opportunity to reflect on the similarities and differences between sport and art. Behind slow-motion replays and locker room rituals lurks a sophisticated take on a global obsession that speaks volumes about the human condition. Jo Strømgren Kompani is one of Scandinavia’s most established independent dance theatre companies, combining raw physicality with absurd humour.
Advisory: Contains partial nudity.
She She Pop & Their Fathers: Testament
She She Pop (Germany)
Performed in German with English surtitles
April 17-20, Enwave Theatre, 120 mins
Mirroring the story of King Lear and his daughters, She She Pop members take to the stage with their own aging fathers to enumerate their inheritances and negotiate how power, money, memory and love are passed along across the generations. With the drive of a game show, this heart wrenching and humourous work strives to find the intersections of responsibility and respect between parents and children. She She Pop, based in Berlin and Hamburg, is one of Germany’s most important performance collectives.
Still Standing You
Pieter Ampe & Guilherme Garrido/CAMPO (Belgium/Portugal)
April 23-24 & 26-27, Enwave Theatre, 45 mins
Unadorned, hilarious, moving and disturbing. With the instruments of their bodies, this Belgian Portuguese duo offers a mischievous glimpse into the kaleidoscope of friendship. From slaps on the back to violent strokes of a leather belt, the pair tests the strength of their relationship. The artists invite the audience to consider associations of touch, tenderness, violence and struggle between the bodies of men. CAMPO, which brought That Night Follows Day to World Stage audiences in 2009, is a Ghent-based art centre that creates and presents work at all stages of development on a national and international scale.
Advisory: contains full frontal nudity
what we are saying (Canada)
Ame Henderson/Public Recordings
Presented in association with The Power Plant
May 23-26, The Power Plant, 60 mins
Expanding upon findings from 300 Tapes and relay, Public Recordings asks: "What can we say about our future and how do we say it together?" Using language and movement to explore new perspectives of our world and each other, an assembly of performers responds to uncertainty, potential danger, and possibility in an unobstructed performance space. Since 2003, widely-acclaimed Public Recordings has been supporting and promoting the works of dancemaker Ame Henderson and her collaborators. The Power Plant, part of Harbourfront Centre, is Canada’s leading public gallery devoted exclusively to contemporary visual art.
KAMP (CAMP)
Hotel Modern (Netherlands)
May 23-26, Enwave Theatre, 60 mins
With an enormous scale model of Auschwitz filling the stage, thousands of eight-centimetre-tall handmade puppets represent the prisoners and their executioners. The performers move through the set like giant war reporters, or silent gods, filming the horrific events with miniature cameras. The audience becomes witness. Hotel Modern attempts to imagine the unimaginable: the greatest mass murder in history, committed in a purpose-built city. Established in 1997, Hotel Modern blends visual arts, puppetry, music and film in evocative productions by representing harsh reality in a refined poetic manner.
World Stage Tickets: Help deliver world-renowned programming like World Stage by becoming a Harbourfront Centre donor. Donors receive advance World Stage 2013 ticket purchasing opportunities, starting October 24, before the public on sale date of November 7. Regular ticket buyers can save up to 50% with a World Stage Flex Pass. Purchase four tickets to any World Stage shows for only $110 or eight tickets for $180. The Flex Pass is only on sale until January 23, 2013. Regular ticket packages (three or more productions) offer discounts and exclusive partner offers, discounted parking and more. The CultureBreak programme, designed for 13-25 year-old arts and culture cravers and/or students of all ages offers $15 tickets to any show, any time. Seniors, groups of 10 or more, arts workers and NextSteps ticket buyers save 20%. Single tickets available anytime via our box office by calling 416-973-4000 , Tuesday to Saturday, 1-6pm, or online atharbourfrontcentre.com.
Extras: World Stage goes deeper to deliver a more textured performance experience for audiences by offering post-performance talkshows on the second night of the run with guest hosts and cast members, opening night receptions and artist development workshops.
Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage 2013 gratefully acknowledges the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council and Westin Harbour Castle, the official host hotel of World Stage.
ABOUT HARBOURFRONT CENTRE
Harbourfront Centre is a Canadian charity operating the 10 prime acres of Toronto's central waterfront as a free and open public site. We celebrate the multiplicities of cultures that comprise Canada and enliven the city through the creative imaginations of artists from across the country and around the globe. Harbourfront Centre attracts more than 17 million visits to its site each year to experience 4,000 diverse public events and activities. Harbourfront Centre receives operational support from the Government of Canada and the City of Toronto and program funding from all levels of government, the private sector and individual donors.
For more information and unparalleled access to interviews, videos and commentary on the World Stage 2013 season visitwww.harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage
Follow us on Twitter @WorldStageTO #WSTO
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WorldStageTO
ABOUT HARBOURFRONT CENTRE
Harbourfront Centre is a Canadian charity operating the 10 prime acres of Toronto's central waterfront as a free and open public site. We celebrate the multiplicities of cultures that comprise Canada and enliven the city through the creative imaginations of artists from across the country and around the globe. Harbourfront Centre attracts more than 17 million visits to its site each year to experience 4,000 diverse public events and activities. Harbourfront Centre receives operational support from the Government of Canada and the City of Toronto and program funding from all levels of government, the private sector and individual donors.
For more information and unparalleled access to interviews, videos and commentary on the World Stage 2013 season visitwww.harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage
Follow us on Twitter @WorldStageTO #WSTO
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WorldStageTO
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Canadian Stage Preview: POLITICAL MOTHER
Photo by Tom Medwell
Opening tomorrow is the second show in the Canadian Stage lineup and we hear it is a very strong one. We love dance here at EAP so we are excited to see it and see what all the buzz is about!
Press Release:
Electrifying dance and rock spectacle
Political Mother
sweeps through Toronto for six performance run
Dynamic production by UK-based Israeli choreographer
Hofesh Shechter on stage from October 24 to 28
Political Mother will be on stage from Wednesday, October 24 to Sunday, October 28 at the Bluma Appel Theatre in the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts (27 Front St. E). Tickets from $24 to $99 are available by phone at 416.368.3110 , online at www.canadianstage.com, or in person at the box office.
“To finally share the brilliance of Hofesh Shechter’s choreography with Toronto audiences is very exciting for Canadian Stage,” said Matthew Jocelyn, Artistic & General Director. “Our mandate is to present the most groundbreaking and powerful productions from Canada and around the world. Political Mother exemplifies this in a storm of dynamic and beautiful dance moments combined with live rock music and electrifying lighting. This show is one of the most sumptuous visual presentations - and at the same time - one of the most riveting and gripping emotional experiences that I’ve had in a long time.”
Shechter, who choreographed and composed this “howling beast of a dance show” in 2010, draws on his training and career as a musician and dancer to create both the music and movement for his work. For Political Mother he assembled a band of seven musicians, including guitarists and percussionists to bring a big sound to the stage, inviting audiences to ride an emotional roller coaster that confuses one’s values and challenges perceptions of what is “normal”.
The ensemble features 12 dancers from Hofesh Shechter Company and includes Maëva Berthelot, Chien-Ming Chang, Sam Coren, Frédéric Despierre, Karima El Amrani, James Finnemore, Bruno Karim Guilloré, Yeji Kim, Kim Kohlmann, Philip Hulford, Erion Kruja and Hannah Shepherd. The score, composed by Shechter, was created in collaboration with Nell Catchpole and Yaron Engler. The dancers are accompanied on stage by a live metal rock band alongside a group of military drummers.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Preview: Road Trip, Prresented by Harbourfront Centre's NextSteps Series
Opening Thursday and running through Saturday, at the Harbourfront Centre's Enwave Theatre, is Road Trip. Presented as part of the NextSteps series and developed by DanceWorks, Road Trip features the dynamic choreographic duo Susie Burpee and Linnea Swan.
Susie Burpee in 'Road Trip' from Road Trip on Vimeo.
Susie Burpee creates “fully human characters, struggling for connection” (Toronto Star). Her work received Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding Choreography and Performance, and she is a recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Dance. Burpee’s works are noted for their skillful use of contemporary movement to transform individuals on stage and showcase human complexity.
Linnea Swan in 'Road Trip' from Road Trip on Vimeo.
Linnea Swan has worked with many of Canada’s esteemed dance and theatre companies and the interdisciplinary Exchange Rate Collective, whose creation, Appetite, received two Dora Mavor Moore Awards. As a filmmaker, Swan works alongside choreographers and musicians to create music and promotional videos, and films for live performance.
Do not miss this short run. Click here for ticket information and specific show times.
The Harbourfront Centre release describes Road Trip and Its leading ladies as,
...two physically fierce contemporary dancers – [these] two women caught in the spotlight like deer in the headlights. Has something awful happened? The rollercoaster movement of this tragicomic face-off takes the audience on an unforgettable road trip.
Susie Burpee in 'Road Trip' from Road Trip on Vimeo.
Susie Burpee creates “fully human characters, struggling for connection” (Toronto Star). Her work received Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding Choreography and Performance, and she is a recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Dance. Burpee’s works are noted for their skillful use of contemporary movement to transform individuals on stage and showcase human complexity.
Linnea Swan in 'Road Trip' from Road Trip on Vimeo.
Linnea Swan has worked with many of Canada’s esteemed dance and theatre companies and the interdisciplinary Exchange Rate Collective, whose creation, Appetite, received two Dora Mavor Moore Awards. As a filmmaker, Swan works alongside choreographers and musicians to create music and promotional videos, and films for live performance.
Do not miss this short run. Click here for ticket information and specific show times.
Friday, May 11, 2012
What's on This Weekend. (That we'd recommend that is.)
Brought up from Broadway, this remount of West Side will impress all audiences, whether you've seen the show and film a hundred times or you've never even heard "I Feel Pretty." Unlike the original production, the Broadway remount, on now at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, features a delicate re-working of the famous dialogue and music to include a lot more Spanish. And considering that half the cast is supposed to be Puerto Rican, it's a great development from the original script. Kudos to director David Saint, who uses Tony Award®-winning librettist Arthur Laurents’ Broadway direction for the tour. West Side Story purists my not appreciate hearing some of their favourite songs in Spanish, but it is well worth seeing. If nothing else you'll spend your evening marvelling at the choreography of Jerome Robbins'.
If three hours of love, gangs and ballet aren't your thing, then head on down to the Harbourfront Centre for the final show in their 2012 World Stage series. The Shipment, which we saw last night, is superb. Truly. I was skeptical that a Korean-American could really capture what it means to be black in America, (who knows how I'd know,) but wow was I wrong. Young Jean Lee may not be black but boy can she write a riveting show.
This is experimental theatre at its absolute best. The Shipment challenges the audience, makes them laugh and delights in a gripping ninety minutes of theatre. With a hugely talented triple threat cast The Shipment may be the best show we have seen all spring! You never know what is coming next. Some of the show's scenes are truly soul touching and haunting. Be advised The Shipment is not your grandma's show*. It is vulgar, confrontational and at times uncomfortable, but what else would you expect from a show about race. This is definitely one to see. Don't miss it during it's limited run at the Enwave Theatre. Click here for more info. The Shipment runs until May 12th.
For all you opera lovers out there, tonight is only the second night for the COC's final opera of the 2011/12 season. And we are hoping they have saved the best for last. Semele, the sensuous Handel opera is re-imagined in Zhang Huan's astonishing and provocatively playful stage direction. We have been looking forward to this for weeks. Semele runs until the 26th of May, and their is a special Ensemble Studio presentation of the opera on May 23rd. (More on that later.) We can't wait. Click here for tickets, and don't forget the COC has some of the best rush and young people discounts going, so don't miss it!
So get out there and see some shows already!
*Unless your grandmother is like mine or Justin's. They'd have loved it!
*Unless your grandmother is like mine or Justin's. They'd have loved it!
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Preview: Dance Marathon
The 2012 World Stage season comes to a close with the return of the internationally-acclaimed immersive theatre show Dance Marathon. This exclusive engagement takes place at Harbourfront Centre’s Enwave Theatre on Friday May 18 and Saturday May 19, 2012. Described as part theatre, part contest and part social experiment, Dance Marathon is an interactive performance piece by Toronto’s award-winning interdisciplinary theatre collective, bluemouth inc.
“Beg, borrow or steal a ticket for this life affirming show.” – London Telegraph
“Part Cabaret, part dance class, part gladiatorial death-match...irresistibly good fun.”
- The Observer
“An intriguing immersive performance piece...bluemouth inc. are challenging and boundary pushing, they create intense, multi-layered experiences that at once question and bring people together.” – Metro (Scotland)
A massive hit at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Dance Marathon is an interactive, duration-based performance event. Inspired by the desperately competitive and physically grueling spectator sports of Depression-Era North America, the show is also a nod to today's cult of celebrity and reality TV.
In the show, audience members of all levels of dance-floor comfort participate, learn and are judged in a series of challenges inspired by the endurance contests of 1920s and ‘30s America while a live band provides the soundtrack. Audience members participate and dance-off with bluemouth inc. members under the direction of floor judges and the merciless movement of the clock to help shape the theatrical experience, or they can sit back and enjoy the fancy footwork.
bluemouth inc. is five artists trained in various disciplines, brought together by a common vision of sharing their training and forging a new language. Their goal is to reach beyond the boundaries of conventional performance practice to create site-specific interdisciplinary art that leads audiences and artists alike into new forms of play.
As a not-for-profit performance collective, bluemouth inc. continues to explore formal issues related to site-specific work: compositional counterpoint between the properties of film, movement, sound design and spoken word; a temporal installation integrated within a challenging setting; and an ongoing adjustment of the relationship of the performance to the spectator.
Toronto’s Dora award-winning theatre collective bluemouth inc. is dedicated to reaching beyond the boundaries of conventional performance practice, and with the support of Harbourfront Centre’s Fresh Ground new works commissioning program, debuted Dance Marathon in the World Stage 08/09 season. From there, the production’s playful integration of movement, text, music, video and audience interaction captivated viewers and critics around the globe, touring to Vancouver, New York City, Melbourne, Tasmania, Cork, Edinburgh and London.
Performance details:
Friday, May 18: 7pm
Saturday, May 19, 2012: 7pm
Enwave Theatre, 231 Queens Quay West
Running time: 240 min. with breaks
Tickets: $35, $28 (seniors and artsworkers), $15 (CultureBreak – 18 to 25 years-old and full-time students of all ages) available at Harbourfront Centre’s Box Office. Call 416-973-4000, email tickets@harbourfrontcentre.com or visit here.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Review: Agwa/Correria
Compagnie Kafig made its triumphant return to the Harbourfront Centre last night, at the opening of Agwa/Correria. The high energy show featured two pieces by acclaimed hip hop choreographer and creative visionary Mourad Merzouki. It was a brilliant melding of Brazilian and French with street styles of dance. Correria, presented in the first act, means raid or foray in Portuguese and featured high energy and agressive battles and electrifying group choreography. While the second act's Agwa, meaning water was decidedly more graceful and elegant. Both pieces played to the dancers' strengths. Strong, athletic, men with washboard abs and cheeky grins, seamlessly moved from hilarity to intensity.
Although Agwa/Correria might not be the most sophisticated and cohesive dance, or even hip hop show, ever, it is certainly entertaining. With creative choreography, athleticism and high energy these guys will engage and impress even the less interested audience member. You can't help but watch engrossed by the sheer physicality and grace of movement.
The second act's Agwa was decidedly more thematic, but perhaps a bit overstated. Either way, who knew that plastic cups could be so beautiful? Overall the staging, by Mr. Merzouki and Benjamin Lebreton and lighting design by Yoann Tivoli perfectly accentuated the talents of the performers and the creativity of the choreography.
This is a great show, and at just 75 minutes makes a perfect introductory or family dance affair. Agwa/Correria runs at the Fleck Dance Theatre until May 5th. Check out the trailer below. And click here for tickets.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Preview: Agwa/Correria
This week in the city, Compagnie Käfig (France/Brazil) comes to Harbourfront Centre as part of World Stage with Agwa/Correria from May 2-5, 2012 at the Fleck Dance Theatre. This marks the company’s return to Harboufront since 2004 with their sell-out production of Corps est Graphique.
Hip hop prodigy Mourad Merzouki brings France and Brazil together to create poetic urban dance with exuberant and explosive power. In 2006, Merzouki invited 11 young dancers from Rio de Janerio to the Lyon Dance Biennial to create Agwa/Correria. These dynamic Brazilian performers demonstrate a passion for dance, mixing complex hip-hop with capoeira, samba, electronic music and bossa nova.
In this inventive double-bill, Agwa takes place between tight corridors of little cups of water. This athletic and acrobatic piece examines the vital resource of water and it’s symbolism of renewal. Correria is a stylized endurance piece that lunges into a whirlwind of the frenzied modern world.
By avoiding all the social stereotypes, Compagnie Käfig has managed to assert a unique style all its own. While honouring its origins, the company has heralded the hip hop movement, winning over audiences as diverse as those of the dancers. With hip hop dance, the members of the company have, each in their own way, progressively trained themselves and have enriched a vocabulary. Merzouki's endeavor to engage urban youth extends beyond choreographic creations, introducing hip-hop and contemporary dance culture to the public through their performances and in workshops and master classes.
Born in Lyon, France, Mourad Merzouki is the artistic director of Compagnie Käfig, which he founded in 1996. Merzouki started learning martial and circus arts when he was seven-years-old. As a teenager, his discovery of the hip hop culture led him towards the dance world. He soon decided to develop his hip hop movements with more professional goals. Merzouki blends his experience in circus and martial arts with hip hop dance and culture to create works that have earned him choreographic awards from the International Dance Festival in Wolfsburg, Germany, La Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques and Lyon’s Lumières de la Culture.
Performance details:
Wednesday, May 2, 2012: 8pm
Thursday, May 3, 2012: 8pm
Friday, May 4, 2012: 8pm
Saturday, May 5, 2012: 8pm
Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West.
Tickets: $45, $36 (seniors and artsworkers), $15 (CultureBreak – children and youth 13 to 25 years-old) available at Harbourfront Centre’s Box Office. Call 416-973-4000,email tickets@harbourfrontcentre.com or visit harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage!
May 3 performance will be followed by a free talkshow for ticket holders. Hosted by The Dance Current's Kathleen Smith, the talkshow is an opportunity for audience members to engage in conversation with Mourad Merzouki and dancers from the company.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Review: Paris 1994/Gallery
Mesmerizing, is the best way to describe Paris 1994/Gallery, the latest dance show featured in the Harbourfront Centre's World Stage season. From the moment the dancers, Danielle Baskerville and Tyler Gledhill, sat on stage, to the moment they left, a weighty intensity griped the audience at the Enwave Theatre during opening night, lat night.
At times the show is overwhelming and uncomfortable but also compelling, preventing you from turning away. Perhaps it should not be a surprise. Paris 1994/Gallery is about death, and the beauty that lives beyond death. Ms. Baskerville, an alumni of the Toronto Dance Theatre School is breathtaking in her movements. But she does not overshadow her partner, Tyler Gledhill, who is both masculine and graceful. Fluid and strong yet delicate, the pair's chemistry captivates and carries the piece. For just over an hour the two literally wrestle with themes of love and loss, memory, and how we perceive those memories. It is a sight to behold and I for one found myself having to catch my breath as the lights came up in the house.
The bare set, by Jordan Worth, and inventive staging complimented TDT School alum and Director/Choreographer D.A. Hoskins' vision. And while her intentions were not always clear, as when a sand bag hanging from a hook obstructed the view of a video installation behind it, the sensations and emotions behind the movements were. At times the choreography highlighted the pedestrian, or everyday movements, but quickly gave way to some of the most inventive and intricate pas de deux work we've seen, as if to say, we are all, in our most primal, always choreographing and creating a dance out of life.
The show was accompanied by original sound/music by Robert Kingsbury. A score almost transcendental in quality. At times you'd forget that anything was playing at all, only to be jarred back to the moment seconds later, as the dancers shouted at one another or a eery creaking suddenly interrupted the melody. In many respects the score perfectly symbolized the very shocking nature of life and death, at times so beautiful and serene and at others so horrifying as to not be believed.
This is not a piece for the dance skeptic. If dance doesn't move you, don't bother. Instead this piece speaks to those who can relate to the powerful way dance can convey what words and music alone cannot. The way grief manifests itself in the body, and the way joyous and exuberant movement can combat the weight of loss. Powerful feelings are at play in Paris 1994/Gallery. Even if you are unsure, trust me, seeing these two performers is worth the price of admission.
Paris 1994/Gallery plays at the Enwave Theatre until Saturday. Click here for tickets.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Preview: Paris 1994/Gallery
World Stage continues at Harbourfront Centre with the mesmerizing dance installation Paris1994/Gallery by Toronto’s The Dietrich Group. This show is Choreographed by D.A. Hoskins.
"Intellectual rigour with emotional wallop, resulting in works that engage hearts and minds." - Toronto Life
“[Hoskins’ choreography is] hugely scenic, sculptural and forcefully pictorial.” – Toronto Star
This triple Dora-Award-nominated show takes the physicality of dance into a space of interactive play where two lovers move from the lull of their shared history to the immediacy of the present in a rumination of longing, desire and our reconstructed pasts. Paris1994/Gallery explores memory through the reflection of time, looking at how memory is a constantly changing perspective through highlighted moments between lovers. Set in an arena similar to an art gallery, the players become extensions in this installation that explores time and space. Directed/ choreographed by D.A. Hoskins, starring Danielle Baskerville and Tyler Glendhill, spoken word by Jill Battson, and film by Nico Stagias.
Grounded in dynamic and intimate physicality, The Dietrich Group challenges the viewer’s perceptions of live performance, bringing dance in Canada into the realm of contemporary art. Launched in January 2008 as a platform for the creation and production of multidisciplinary dance works, The Dietrich Group is designed specifically to facilitate exchanges in art. Other works created by The Dietrich Group include THE LAND OF FUCK (a fable), LADY: Images in a Melodramatic Setting and PORTRAIT.
D.A. Hoskins is artistic director of The Dietrich Group and a visual artist working in dance. Hoskins moved to Toronto in the early 80's to pursue a career as a dance artist, soon after focusing his attention on choreography. Since the beginning of his career has joined forces with a variety artists, including composer Gilles Goyette, spoken word poet Jill Battson and the filmmaker Nico Stagias, to name a few. Hoskins founded The Dietrich Group in 2008 as a platform focused on exploring a non-conformist aesthetic and a forum for interactive exchange. Hoskins has created commissions for theatre, opera, symphony and multiple professional dance training programs, as well as independently producing a series of his own projects. Hoskins has drawn inspiration from new media, conceptual art, as well as film and video, and he incorporates visual projections, text and voice into his dance performances.
Danielle Baskerville performs and teaches across Canada and on occasion in France, Austria and Belgium. Founding member and artistic associate of The Dietrich Group, Danielle has worked with many of Canada’s finest creators as both an independent and company member. Danielle has played a pivotal role in the performance of new work and revisal of past repertoire for Dancetheatre David Earle from its inception, recently returning from the premiere of Earle’s Ode To Michelange in Burgundy, France. Particularly formative creative periods include working with Roxanne Huimand, Thierry Bae and David Hernandez in Brussels and Jan Burkhardt and Renate Graziadel in Berlin. Along side The Dietrich Group Danielle continues to explore with artists Toronto Heidi Strauss, Michael Sean Marye and Jonathan Osborne.
Tyler Gledhill trained at The National Ballet School, Het National Balletacademie in Amsterdam, and The Pacific Northwest Ballet School in Seattle. Gledhill’s professional career began in The Netherlands with Intordans, touring throughout Europe and Asia. He danced with The Göteborg Ballet and Cullberg Ballet in Sweden. As an independent artist, Gledhill has worked with Hit & Run Productions, Opera Atelier, The Chimera Project, ProArte Danza and The Dietrich Group. For his role Paris1994/Gallery in 2010, he was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding performance in a dance production. Gledhill has also starred in two short films by director Rocco Barriuso, The Providential Lack of Anything and Swimming.
Paris1994/Gallery runs April 25-28, 2012 at the Enwave Theatre, 231 Queens Quay West, Toronto.
Performance details:
Wednesday, April 25, 2012: 8pm
Thursday, April 26, 2012: 8pm
Friday, April 27, 2012: 8pm
Saturday, April 28, 2012: 8pm
Tickets: $35, $28 (seniors and artsworkers), $15 (CultureBreak – 13 to 25 years-old) available at Harbourfront Centre’s Box Office. Call 416-973-4000, or click here to order online.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Preview: Dancemakers Presents THE ADAPTATION PROJECT
Dancemakers presents
THE ADAPTATION PROJECT
"Confronting our past, with love. A re-imagined performance by Michael Trent based on Mitchell Rose's Following Station Identification. (1974)"
For the Dancemakers' 2012 Spring Home Season, Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer Michael Trent re-imagines a dance from the Company's 100-plus repertoire, a body of work amassed over its 38-year history and created by noted Canadian and international artists. We have been talking about this one for awhile, and we are so excited that it is almost here.
For this work Trent is returning to the company's infancy, coming to new terms with Mitchell Rose's Following Station Identification - working from historical rehearsal videos and the recollections from early Dancemakers performers of the work and pioneers of independent dance in Toronto including Carol Anderson, Peggy Baker, Pat Fraser and Pat Miner. Trent also conducted Skype conversations with Rose himself.
Wanting something other than a traditional remount where original intention, choreography and design are re-created as faithfully as possible, Trent and the company, including composer Christopher Willes and musician Thom Gill, will re-imagine Rose's 1974 Following Station Identification, a 'satirical dance on middle-American values', for today's Dancemakers.
"We all face looking back at our past and wondering what to make of it. We face it as individuals, as families, as communities, and, not surprisingly, as dance companies," explains Trent. "I am curious about this dance in particular because, although my work broadly addresses the way we are in the world, it has never done so through the lens of satire. I am also curious about confronting the status quo and its relationship to social values from the 'middle'."
Former choreographer and performance artist, Ohio- based Mitchell Rose is now an award-winning comedic short filmmaker. Over the course of his dance career, 1973-1991, he created 75 works, set pieces on 20 repertory and university dance companies, was awarded five Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and was referred to as the "dance world's Woody Allen."
THE ADAPTATION PROJECT
Confronting our past, with love.
A re-imagined performance by Michael Trent
based on Mitchell Rose's Following Station Identification (1974)
Performed by Robert Abubo, Amanda Acorn, Kate Holden, Benjamin Kamino and Simon Renaud
DANCEMAKERS CENTRE FOR CREATION
The Distillery Historic District, 55 Mill Street, The Cannery, Bldg. 58, Studio 313
April 19 -29, 2012, Preview April 18, 2012
Wednesday - Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 4pm o Tickets $25, Student/Senior, CADA, Artsworker $20
For ticket information please call 416.367.1800 or book online here.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Preview: Badass Dance Fun at the Harbourfront Centre
Life is too short to take it seriously all the time. That is why this month Toronto-based choreographer Eroca Nicols is teaming up with the Harbourfront Centre to bring you Badass Dance Fun, as part of the NextSteps Festival 2012. Badass Dance Fun is the newest platform for experimental contemporary dance, featuring emerging artists who interact with the audience and explore their relationship with the performers. All in the hopes of letting our hair down and loosening our ties. The work is presented in a casual and community-based way, which include the public in their performances. These dancers and choreographers are exploring new ways to intensify the connection with their audience. And in return hopefully demystify dance for the public.
Badass ... is curated by Eroca Nicols (aka Lady Janitor.) This show will feel like a festival with music, play and unapologetic fun. Susan Walker of the Toronto Star says, "Eroca... is on a mission to make contemporary dance fun and accessible."
Below are the two programme line-ups
Programme A
March 28 and 30th at 8pm.
Tara Gaucher (Edmonton)
Meg Foley (Philadelphia)
Lady Janitor, Eroca Nicols (Toronto)
cube 3 (Toronto)
Programme B
March 29th and 31st at 8pm
Meryem Alaoui (Toronto)
Julia Male (Toronto)
kirsch&keenan dance endeavors (Montreal/Germany)
Cara Spooner (Toronto)
A double bill programme featuring both Programme A and B will be held March 31st at 2pm. There will also be audience talk backs held March 28th and 29th, and will be led by Eroca Nicols and Cara Spooner.
Tickets are $15 for single a programme and $25 for the double bill on the afternoon of the 31st. For ticket information contact the Harbourfront Centre by phone at 416.973.4000 or through the website by clicking here.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Dancemakers Presents The Adaptation Project
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Dancemakers' 2012 Spring Home Season is here, and features a new work by Artistic Director Michael Trent. Dancemakers have been working for over 38 years, and from that body of work Michael has created The Adaptation Project. By utilizing the work of over 100 pieces of Dancemakers' repertoire, Trent will create a new performance in response to Mitchell Rose's work, Follow Station Identification, from 1974. This piece will reflect and is inspired by looking backward and forward through the lens of now.
Featuring: Robert Abubo, Amanda Acorn, Kate Holden, Benjamin Kamino and Simon Renaud.
Performances will be held at the Dancemakers Centre for Creation in the Distillery District at 55 Mill Street The Cannery, Bldg. 58, Studio 313.
The Performances will be April 18-29th. Wednesday - Saturday at 8pm Sunday at 4pm. Tickets are $25, Students/Seniors, CADA, Arts workers $20. To book tickets call 416.367.1800. or email info@dancemakers.org or online here.
*Image of Choreographer and Artistic Director Michael Trent, courtesy of Flip Publicity and Promotions.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Preview: FRESH BLOOD
The Harbourfront Centre in association with The Chimera Project presents the best upcoming choreographers with FRESH BLOOD. Part of the 2012 NextSteps season, FRESH BLOOD is an interesting and innovative dance show featuring some of tomorrow's great contemporary choreographers. Each presenter has less than five years of professional experience and are given five minutes to showcase their work.
FRESH BLOOD takes place March 16th and 17th at the Enwave Theatre, 235 Queens Quay West, Toronto.
Tickets are $20, students $15, seniors $18. All NextSteps tickets are available through the Harbourfront Box Office. Call 416.973.4000. Or visit the Harbourfront website here.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Preview: Four at the Winch Quebec
Toronto Dance Theatre presents Four at the Winch Quebec, featuring new works by four of the most intriguing voices at work in the province of Quebec today. The show features the work of Montreal-based choreographers, Estelle Clareton, Lina Cruz, Deborah Dunn and Jean-Sébastien Lourdais. Four at the Winch Quebec is the culmination of an intensive rehearsal period with TDT’s dancers. Performances begin tonight at the Winchester Street Theatre with additional shows on the 24, 25, 29 & March 1-3, 2012 (8pm). There is also a PWYC performance at 2pm on February 26th.
Since its inception in 1998, this popular choreographic platform has featured works by such artists as Peter Chin, Matjash Mrozewski, Sasha Ivanochko, Tedd Robinson, Nova Bhattacharya and Andrea Nann. It is a showcase for new ideas and and collaborative exchange. Four at the Winch Quebec promises to provide Toronto audiences with a fascinating cross-section of Quebec dance today, created by four choreographers riding a wave of success, and performed by TDT’s extraordinary company of dancers.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Preview: Alvin Ailey
Revelations from AlvinAileyAmericanDanceTheater on Vimeo.
One of the greatest modern dance companies going, Alvin Ailey's American Dance Theater is coming to Toronto for a limited run at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. I can remember seeing Alvin Ailey tours when I was a very young dancer in San Francisco, and "Revelations", the piece above, is still one of the most moving things I have ever seen onstage. If you have never seen Alvin Ailey, or if it has just been a while then be sure not to miss them while they are in town for four performances February 2nd - 4th. Click here for ticket information. And click here to see the line-up each night, the shows are slightly different, although all four performances feature "Revelations."
Still not convinced? Check out this clip from Artistic Director Robert Battle's work "Hunt." An athletic piece featuring six male dancers on the hunt.
The Hunt from AlvinAileyAmericanDanceTheater on Vimeo.
NextSteps's Dance Weekend 2012
Next week the Harbourfront Centre will kick off the second half of NextSteps with Dance Weekend 2012. Dance Ontario presents a stunning winter showcase featuring more than 26 companies, presented in association with the Harbourfront Centre. The event is next weekend starting January 20th at 7pm and January 21-22nd at 1pm.
All performances will be at the Fleck Dance Theatre, located at Harbourfront Centre, 207 Queens Quay West. Tickets for the event are by donation with a minimum of $10. If you love dance don't miss this one, there will be hundreds of dancers, live musicians and range of dance styles to marvel at including, ballet, hip-hop, flamenco and folk. Click here for more information.
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