On the Ground
On the Ground
Opening New Doors
The Dance Current caught up with Noriko Kusama before her performance in Rhythm, Stories, Movement, a performance with Canada’s taiko group Nagata Shachu and also featuring author/storyteller Rui Umezawa and contemporary dancer Yuichiro Inoue.
Posted November 20, 2018
On the Ground
Open Arms
By Emma KersonIn her new work White Elephant, Marie Lambin-Gagnon explores awareness, presence and acceptance, as five performers navigate a world of bubble wrap and play with the fragility of memory.
Posted October 4, 2018
On the Ground
Taking the Time
By Emilie DurvilleSit in on a conversation with Emilie Durville and Alysa Pires before Pires presents her work MAMBO at Toronto’s Fall for Dance North Festival.
Posted October 1, 2018
On the Ground
A Space to Ask Hard Questions
By Elizabeth Emond-StevensonCreated by adelheid Artistic Director Heidi Strauss, re·research is a program that provides emerging dance artists with space, time and infrastructure to explore non-product-oriented creation and process.
Posted August 16, 2018
On the Ground
Choose Your Own Adventure
By Elise TiggesDuring a week-long festival at Toronto’s Harbourfront, an exciting schedule brought unique performances from around the world. Through dance, music, theatre and puppetry, children were exposed to stories and cultures, from right here at home to as far away as Australia and Norway.
Posted July 5, 2018
On the Ground
TV's Tough Competitors
By Elise TiggesJenalyn Saraza-Pacheco and Luka Milacic-Perusina are a Toronto-based cabaret ballroom couple who are set to wow the audience in season two of World of Dance, a competitive dance TV series that airs on NBC (and CTV in Canada). After being cut in season one, they’re back and excited to challenge themselves.
Posted June 22, 2018
On the Ground
Jolene Bailie's Fringe Tips
Winnipeg-based dance artist Jolene Bailie offers tips for surviving the Fringe Festival.
Posted June 11, 2018
On the Ground
Strike A Pose
By Jillian GroeningRalph Escamillan and Gerard X Reyes talk about their work in keeping vogue communities intergenerational.
Posted May 15, 2018
On the Ground
Yielding Mindful Footprints: Q & A with Kelly McInnes
By Emma KersonVancouver-based artist Kelly McInnes creates socio-political dance that asks big questions.
Posted May 8, 2018
On the Ground
Phantom, stills & vibrations
By Victoria Mohr-Blakeney, Nadine ChangfootIn her new work Lara Kramer confronts the complex and brutal relationships between Indigenous peoples and settler society, exploring the residual effects of the residential school system and the traumas that permeate in its wake.
Posted March 22, 2018
On the Ground
A Welcoming
The Dance Current spoke with Wunmi Idowu in anticipation of UNGANISHA – an inaugural Calgary festival brought to life by Woezo Africa Music & Dance Theatre and Creoternity Theatre. The festival is a dance theatre showcase celebrating the history and influence of African culture and contemporary dance.
Posted February 15, 2018
On the Ground
Precious Pixels
By Grace Wells-SmithThe why and how of photography for dancers
Posted December 27, 2017
On the Ground
Aiming for Abstraction
By Xdzunúm TrejoPaul-André Fortier’s latest work Trois closed the autumn season of Agora de la danse (November 22 through 25) and was also performed at the Germain Hotel Montréal’s Fou d’ici supermarket and a cafeteria in Google Montréal. Fortier and performers Mark Medrano and Naishi Wang spoke with The Dance Current about their experience of taking dance hors les murs, outside of the theatre context.
Posted December 8, 2017
On the Ground
The Physicality of Circus
By Megha ChatterjeeThe Dance Current was invited behind the scenes of Cirque du Soleil’s VOLTA, to learn about the physical requirement of the work.
Posted November 23, 2017
On the Ground
Movement in Time
By Nicole HamiltonHow is Canada representing artists of the African diaspora? Special guest and Turn Out Radio host Nicole Hamilton interviews Vivine Scarlett and Kevin Ormsby about this issue and the performances in Movement in Time, which took place on October 14 at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre Theatre.
Posted November 13, 2017
On the Ground
Embodying Our Alliances
By Vanessa ZeoliThis September, Harbourfront Centre rolled out the 2017/18 season of NextSteps: Canada’s Contemporary Dance Series that features companies and artists from across the country. The sixth season premiered with The Apology Project, an inter-arts work produced in association with Toronto’s pounds per square inch performance (lbs/sq”). The performances examines the bitter tensions between oppressor and oppressed, citing shame as the root cause of violence and suggesting embodied action, rather than language, as means to reconciliation.
Posted October 27, 2017
On the Ground
Mass Movement
By Mark MannMark Mann details his experience dancing in Sylvain Émard’s Le Super Méga Continental, a mass movement spectacle of 375 professional and amateur dancers. The work was performed from September 15 through 17, 2017, as part of Montréal’s Festival TransAmériques.
Posted October 23, 2017
On the Ground
A New Company Member
By Grace Wells-SmithThe Dance Current asked Arlyssa McArthur about her path into the company and how she balances her busy dance career with other commitments.
Posted October 19, 2017
On the Ground
What do You Want to Know about Dance?
By Sarah Lochhead, Anastasia Kolotova, Valeria NunziatoOn June 2, Canada’s National Ballet School’s (NBS) hosted Sharing Dance Day at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto. The annual event is NBS’s flagship community outreach initiative, which offers free dance programs to the public. Toronto was just one out of the five cities to host official Sharing Dance events, with other cities including Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg and Calgary. As part of the event The Dance Current asked attendees to tell us about a dance-related topic or artist they’re interested in learning more about.
Posted September 29, 2017
On the Ground
Breathing Fresh Air
By Samyuktha PunthambekarSamyuktha Punthambekar, an Indian classical dancer for over twenty years, interviews Ilter Ibrahimof, artistic director of Fall for Dance North, in anticipation of the festival in October.
Posted September 28, 2017
